Shooting the Moon
by sciathan file
Summary: Sousuke and Kaname are forced to face the perils of what it means to be Whispered when they encounter a figure from Mithril's past and learn her history.
1. Tension, Tactics, and Tragedy

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Full Metal Panic! But if I did, I would certainly take a certain clueless otaku sergeant as my bodyguard…alas! This is set after the novel _A Dancing Very Merry Christmas_.

**Shooting the Moon**

By Sciathan File

Chapter 1 – Tension, Tactics, and Tragedy

The moon was one of the only things she missed nowadays. It was always in her head – the full moon, in its pale white luminescence - not the faint sliver of the new moon. In her mind it could be perpetually night, because she no longer had the means of knowing such trivial things as the time of day. Yes, if she had wanted, she could ask for a watch, but it didn't matter to her. Days passed unnoticed. They didn't have significance. Time itself was a worthless thing. She slept when she was allowed, ate what was given to her, and did what she was told…for the most part.

No, what she really wanted was a view of the outside world. But windows were out of the question because of security concerns. Life was thrown out those same proverbial windows as well, because of these security concerns.

She didn't understand what they meant by "security concerns" either…it certainly wasn't for _her_ security. Maybe it was for theirs. That seemed almost logical.

A sigh escaped into the sterile, quiet room.

Most of the time she merely sat there in the darkness. She didn't have a need for light; it was in her head with her image of the moon. The things she needed were in her head, but she needed very little. It didn't take much to survive. It took less if you had no intention of surviving.

But she didn't kid herself. No one would miss her. It wasn't as if she was much of a human these days, anyways. She was an irreplaceable rare commodity, worth ten times her weight in gold. But that was all. She would be missed exactly as exotic car that is totaled beyond repair would be missed. She was for all intents an object.

That she did not forget.

She wasn't even allowed to look at the moon anymore.

There was a heavy knocking on the door. She ignored it, as always, whoever it was would come in anyways.

"It's time for the transfer."

She didn't answer, again, as usual. They no longer expected any answer from her, they had grown as used to her as she had to them. She would go to where she was ordered to go whether she liked it or not. It was by Amalgam's will, and she no longer had the strength to defy that. One man placed a hand upon her shoulder. She rose from the sheets, stark naked, and climbed out of the bed, donning a simple robe while nonchalantly grabbing her clothing. What did she care about modesty? These people knew the penalty for touching her in any way that might leave permanent scars, well _mental_ scars.

Without so much as a sound, she was led to the helicopters to go to another hell in another location for another span of nothingness that barely mattered.

Such was her life.

**--------------**

"Urzu 2, the target is in sight. Moving into position."

"In a hurry there, Sousuke?" Mao's voice crackled over the speaker.

"Affirmative. There is a Japanese history exam tomorrow and I hope that I shall be able to take it uninjured."

There was silence over the communications channel for a moment. Both his comrades knew he was not worried about being injured by the mission, quite the contrary in fact…

The homecoming was always the most dangerous part.

After a moment he could hear Kurz's laugh over the communications link, "Before, I would have never taken you for a whipped man, Sousuke!"

"Negative. Chidori uses only her halisen…with a high level of effectiveness, I may add. She has no need of a whip."

There was an awkward silence from both of his fellow SRT members.

"Shut the f-ck up there, Weber," Mao's voice came over the unit's speakers again, "or you're gonna _wish_ that I used a whip. And this better not be like that pirate incident. If you blow up the objective this time, you're _really_ gonna wish I used a whip."

"Woah, babe, you seem to have some tension there. We could work that out back at the base."

There was a long silence.

"There isn't enough beer in the world, Kurz. Not in the entire world."

Sousuke made a final check over the AS's instrument panel, checking critical functions. Being rather used to his comrades' antics, he no longer paid them much attention.

"Sergeant, do you think that Second Lieutenant Mao rather enjoys her tension?" Remarked his partner off-hand.

For the hundredth time he found himself wondering if the A.I. was programmed to have a perverse sense of humor. In lieu of a response the unit's ridiculous A.I. continued, "There is a 56.7 probability that I have misunderstood the situation. Would you like me to display the probable causes of this unnatural reaction, Sergeant?"

He had his mind on other things, "Do whatever you want," he replied absently instead of his usual "shut up."

There was a brief whirring. Sousuke kept his eyes on the base in front of him, noting every detail, escape path, and possible obstruction, and waited for the target to arrive. In his mind, he ran possible continuums should there be ECS cloaked RK-92's or Venoms.

"Giest 1, is your team in position?" It was Clouzot's voice. The masculine voice of the ground troops' field commander gave a terse affirmative reply.

"Sergeant, all possible responses to Urzu 2's situation have been noted. Do you wish to hear them?"

Sousuke wasn't in the mood for the machines antics.

"Shut up and continue monitoring for possible AS's within the area. I thought I told you not to do pretend human talk."

"Yes, Sergeant. I will record the results for later in file Echo-6 if you are interested."

Sousuke didn't answer. The helicopter had almost landed. Things would really begin in earnest then. He personally thought that his presence was a bit unnecessary, however, due to the delicate nature of the mission the Mithril higher-ups had decided that the presence of a lambda driver was a necessary precaution. Chidori had violently expressed that she did not share their views, but that was not a deviation from the normal.

"Target acquired, Geist 1, move out," Clouzot's voice said over the link, "AS's provide necessary back-up to the ground units and terminate enemies as you see fit."

Mao chuckled at the phrase "as you see fit."

"Let's have some fun, boys!"

On seeing their target emerge from the helicopter, Sousuke re-evaluated the situation and deduced that the presence of four arm-slaves was a bit over-cautious. There were only two guards armed with AK-47 assault rifles, which, while good for troop annihilation, were barely equivalent to a bothersome fly for an Arm Slave. The pilot was most likely unarmed. The fourth in the small group matched the description of their mission objective, and there was an extremely low probability that she had been allowed a weapon.

Fire erupted from the ground units. The pilot went down fairly swiftly, shot through the head in the first volley of fire, followed by one of the guards. The shot had gone through his neck, severing an artery. Death had been instantaneous. The last guard caught one of the Mithril's armor piercing shots squarely in the chest. He might have initially survived the shot, but another soon came and ended his life in the same manner as the pilot.

Throughout the battle, Geist, as the objective was code-named, did not so much as flinch. It seemed as if she only gave a glance to each of her guards as they fell. She seemed more concerned with the fact that blood had found its way onto her white dress. But even that was fleeting. She calmly proceeded towards the building as Amalgam's troops began to file out and join the fray.

He did not have much time to contemplate her though.

"Sergeant, three Venom class AS's approaching. It is not known if they have lambda driver capability or not."

"Al, shift to military master mode 4 and tune the bilateral scopes, but keep lambda driver system in reserve as a precaution."

"Roger, Sergeant. I can still offer you a wide array of music if you have changed your mind. You might enjoy it in your current state.

This AS was truly a ridiculous piece of machinery.

"My current state is annoyed with your idiotic requests. I really ought to destroy you for the good of the world."

"You still lack the authority to do so, Sergeant. Perhaps soothing classica-"

"Follow my orders and delete that waste of space! Really, a machine that speaks without consent…"

He could have sworn he heard the ridiculous machine laughing at him, but it was time to concentrate on other matters.

Clouzot's voice came over the speaker again informing them that the Arm Slaves primary objective was to keep the enemy AS's from reaching the ground forces battlefield.

Sousuke didn't have time to give his usual "Affirmative," having already jumped into the fray. Judging his proximity to the ground forces to be too close to effectively use the Arbalest's artillery to completely incapacitate the enemy, he brought out his combat knife and began chiseling away at the opposing venom's casing. Ducking low, he forced the knife between the armor and the AS's main propulsion system, using it as a makeshift crowbar. With an effort, he managed to toss the unit farther away from the ground battle. The grating sound of metal on metal was followed by the unexpected explosion of the unit's head.

"Wooooo, Babe, did you see that?" Kurz's voice whooped over the unit's speakers. Sousuke turned to see his fellow SRT member positioned at the edge of the field, sniper rifle in hand.

"Shut up and do your damn job!" came Mao's reply as she rushed to confront two RK-92 savages.

"Shit! We need some back-up here!" The voice was not familiar and Sousuke silently noted that the speaker had forgotten to give a call sign or designation. As if reading his thoughts the same voice seemed to have regained its sense of military decorum and stated, "Repeat. Geist 1 in need of back up. A large number of Arastols have entered the field in addition to an indeterminate number of infantry. Arastols are shielding Geist against accidental fire. We have three critically wounded."

Sousuke barely got a look at the field, grappling with another Venom. Orders continued to speed over the links, but he merely concentrated on the unit in front of him. Melissa, having dispatched the Savages with ease, started disposing of the Arastols, flinging them broadly away to prevent them from triggering their self-destruct mechanisms and dealing with any unfortunate infantry that stood in her way. Kurz merely remained on the edges, picking off the Arastols on the fringes. To his right, Clouzet within his black M9 was performing a sort of macabre dance with the remaining Venom.

"Shit Kurz, if you blow her up, we're f-cked."

He couldn't see where he had shot this time.

"Sorry Sis, I'll keep it to the perimeters," there was a small pause, "Shit, they weren't kidding about large numbers. There's got to be about fifty of those bastards…correction, about forty-eight."

"Sergeant" quipped the Al unexpectedly, "Training Message: requesting contextual information on the definition of "bastards." To my knowledge machines are not human and therefore cannot be illegitimate children."

"Shut up" he narrowly dodged a volley from the Venom's artillery, "Not now!"

Sousuke ducked, missing yet another shot from the gun.

"Yes, Sergeant, I will save my findings with the results of my earlier inquiry."

Sousuke was about to lecture the machine about wasting space with its nonsense, but he had his hands full with the enemy AS before him. He made a mental note to do it later. He shot the enemy AS square in the chest plate, grabbing hold of its arm and tearing it off as he went into a somersault to evade a slash from its combat knife.

Landing, he fired a volley of point blank shots at the joint separating the unit's torso from its legs, cleaving it in two. Its parts landed and it remained an overly large causality of the campaign.

"You okay there, Sousuke?" Melissa asked, taking out another round of Arastols.

"Affirmative. It is not a problem."

"Okay."

After a satisfying bout of toying with the remaining Venom, Clouzot performed his usual finishing move, incapacitating the last of the major threats. His voice crackled over the speaker, "All units will proceed to aide in the destruction of the Arastols and remaining infantry. Take extreme precaution around Geist."

"Hear that Weber?"

"Sis, that's not entirely fair…"

"Do your job, shithead."

"Uh…" It was an odd utterance for the battlefield, usually reserved for the awkward social positions he managed to get in at school and usually involving Kaname.

"Sousuke?" Mao, all too familiar with the context of that utterance noticed its odd placement.

"Uh…the enemy seems to be engaging in rather unusual tactics."

Remarkably, the Arastols had all seeming gone into a state of hibernation, being picked off by the Mithril operatives with no attempt to evade. The units did not even proceed to self-destruct. After a moment they came to life again and began pursuing the remaining members of the Amalgam infantry. They efficiently shot them all dead in an unbelievable blood bath.

"Bullshit…" was Mao's only response.

It was then that Sousuke noticed Geist, striding towards the front ranks of the Arastols, towards the Mithril troops.

She was looking directly at him.

"These tactics are nonsense," stated the monotone voice of the Arbalest's AI. For perhaps the first time Sousuke wholly agreed with it.

"Uh, Sis, would you like to explain the sudden suicidal behavior of our mission objective? I don't want to be blamed if she takes herself out."

"Shit, Kurz, I have no idea."

It seemed as if most of Mithril's troops agreed with Mao.

The girl had come to a stop directly in front of the remaining ranks of Arastols, standing directly in front of the Arbalest. Her eyes were fixed directly on the AS's cockpit. She brought a hand up and pointed directly at him.

She smiled.

One of the Arastols turned and fired directly at her. Sousuke moved to push her out of the way with his AS, but it was ill timed. The shot caught her solidly in the lower abdomen, and she came to a rest in the white AS's hand.

The Arastols, finished with their slaughter of the enemy troops, lay as still as their corpses.

The ground lay thick with errant AS parts and Amalgam infantry, and the occasional Mithril casualty as well.

Sousuke merely stared at the girl in the Arbalest's hand. She was still breathing, shallow and erratic though it was. But her eyes were fixed up at him.

She spoke three words, far too quietly for even the unit's external microphone to pick up.

"Al?" There was an edge to his voice, "Can you find out what she said?"

"Affirmative, Sergeant."

Al's deep monotone voice relayed them to him.

In the distance he could see the medical personnel.

He hesitated a moment, looking at the girl in the Arbalest's grasp.

"Al, set her down."

The unit complied. Opening the hatch, he jumped down, and administered the sedative per orders, and then watched silently as the medics readied her for the flight back to the Da Daanan.

He felt almost as if he had betrayed her.

**----------**

In a certain Sergeant's absence, however, Jindai High School's normal routine continued unhampered by clothing eating viruses, concussion grenades, and long-winded analogies of normal social situations to famous battles in history.

A blue-haired girl stomped into the classroom, unceremoniously flung down her book bag (narrowly missing two errant classmates) and sat gripping her desk as if she would break it in half.

Indeed, it was a fairly normal day at Jindai High School.

Minus an exploding shoe locker or two…

Kaname's friends, meanwhile, wisely decided to send Kyouko in to run interference. It was well known that an enraged Kaname could very well do as much damage as one of Sagara's grenades if given an opportunity.

This opinion simply wasn't voiced for that fear of providing that opportunity.

Everyone saw what she did to Sagara and no one envied his treatment…of course most people also didn't shove the teacher to the ground on a regular basis claiming that a laser sight had been aimed at her either…

"Good morning, Kana-chan!"

"Good Morning, Kyouko." It was almost a growl, delivered as she stared through eyes that were angry slits focused solely on the front of the room.

"So, Sagara-san will not be here again today?" She asked innocently.

If she were to grip the table any harder than she was at that moment then the structural integrity of it might indeed be compromised.

"Hah hah hah hah." It was _that_ laugh. Kyouko merely nodded her head slightly, eyes gleaming knowingly.

She reached into her satchel and brought out a wad of paper. Wad was the closest way to describe the pulverization that the paper had sustained.

Kyouko shook her head. Whatever Sousuke had done, he was going to end up in much the same condition when he returned.

She took the note and opened it. The following words were written in Sousuke's own untidy scrawl:

Chidori. Business. Back in two days. Sorry. Sagara Sousuke.

She handed the note back to Kaname who continued to punish it in place of its author.

"At least he left you a note, that's an improvement." She said tentatively.

Kaname maintained resumed her grip on the desk in obvious disagreement.

"But that doesn't make up for my effort in purchasing and planning the sukiyaki that I was supposed to prepare for tonight's study session."

Kyouko understood, probably more than her friend intended her to. But knowing that Sousuke did not understand such a thing in the least she couldn't help to feel just a bit sorry for the naïve otaku.

"Kana-chan, you can always force him to eat it at a later date so that your efforts don't go to waste." She said this was a barely concealed mischievous smile, emphasizing the word "date."

She was lucky that Kaname did not notice it in her present mood.

In fact, the statement diffused Kaname's anger somewhat.

But only somewhat.

She absently tore the note into small pieces and crushed them each individually. Kaname would not be fully appeased, however, until she was able to punish the real thing.

**----------**


	2. Damage Report

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still don't own it.

Chapter 2 – Damage Report

Before Sousuke even knew it, he had flipped through the Edo period, moved with determination through the Meiji restoration, skimmed over the Taisho period, and finally managed to gloss over the majority of the section on the Showa period...however if anyone had asked the Sergeant exactly what he had read he would have looked at them blankly and perhaps begun to sweat profusely, not having retained a single syllable. Moreover, he probably would be oblivious to the fact that he had moved more than a century away from the period that his test covered.

Not a single word had managed to travel from his eyes to his memory. Three words kept repeating there instead.

He diligently began flipping through the textbooks glossary, finger still following lines of text that had ended chapters before. Kurz in the meanwhile had been making his normal advances (with more than a few crude gestures) at his fellow SRT member and was in grave danger of having his nose broken. However, this was not a deviation from the normal. Melissa and Kurz were perhaps even a little less overt than normal. Sousuke, however, did not pause from his attempts at reading to see this.

His mind, however, was far from the causes of the battle of Sekigahara and its subsequent political implications, interesting though he might have found them at any other time.

Those three words seemed to block any new information from entering into his brain.

The words seemed to say he had betrayed that girl.

He wondered what Kaname would think…

Admitting defeat and perhaps believing that retreat was his only plausible recourse for the time being, he set the history textbook next to him and closed his eyes, placing his hand on his forehead. He reasoned that in this way he could re-coup his usual level of alertness. It had, unfortunately, been dulled by three nights spent on the mission with a minimum of sleep. It wouldn't do for him to return to his mission in Tokyo in poor condition.

He was never certain what he would find there when he returned.

Sousuke would later blame his lack of rest for his failure to notice the approach of Kurz. Moving from his seat next to Melissa, he slunk over and without warning slung his arm around his younger comrade. Perhaps jumping to the conclusion that he was being assaulted by a slightly more malignant enemy, (and only finding himself to be slightly wrong) he reflexively jerked to break the grip of his assailant. Realizing it was only Kurz, he satisfied himself by putting another seat between him and his comrade.

This, however, did not deter Kurz in the least.

He merely stood up, and clapped Sousuke on the back perhaps a tad too emphatically, saying, "at least I'm not the only one to have killed the target now."

Kurz had apparently thought that would make his young comrade feel _better._

In fact, he had barely finished uttering the last syllable when Melissa's well-placed kick sent him sprawling into the plane's bulkhead.

The airplane rocked with the full force of his collision.

"What the f-ck are you people doing back there?" Came the pilot's angry voice from the front of the plane.

Melissa gave Kurz a thoroughly frightening glare and responded in a frighteningly cheery voice, "Sorry, Sergeant Weber had a little difficulty maintaining his balance."

She took of the place Kurz had _coincidentally_ vacated beside Sousuke.

"Sousuke," she didn't make any gesture towards him, she just looked him straight in the eyes. "The mission was out of our control. You did not kill her like that dumbass over there did the pirate commander," she pointed to where Kurz had been knocked unconscious against the bulkhead.

"Besides," she continued, looking out the window now, "She's not dead yet."

Sousuke didn't respond to her and she didn't expect him to. He merely picked up his history book and began to read again.

He did not feel guilty about what he had done; he did not blame himself for it. The Arastols had acted contrary to every conceivable combat scenario. On the contrary, he had saved the girl from greater physical injury.

She at least had a chance to survive now. But her words kept repeating in his head.

They were like an accusation.

He closed his eyes and steeled himself mentally, pushing all thoughts of his mission away as best as he could. Turning back to the correct chapter, he began the section on the Edo Period for the third time. Kaname was expecting him to do well, and he _needed to do well_ if he could be expected to graduate with her.

He just needed to get back to Tokyo.

…_And_ do well on his test.

Perhaps he would then escape the halisen…

"Life in Tokugawa Japan was strictly hierarchical with a population divided among four distinct classes…"

**---------------**

"We've been able to stem the bleeding as much as possible. The bullet went straight through her, ma'am."

Tessa nodded, her eyes straying over to the girl on the operating table. Her dossier stated that she was only a year older than she was.

"We are currently combating some minor internal bleeding and then we will commence with blood transfusion. Her situation for the next day or so is critical."

"And her odds of survival?" She went on observing the operation, absentmindedly twirling her braid around a finger.

"Captain," the medic spoke quietly, "I will not lie. It is difficult to assess the situation at the moment. If she emerges from the surgery successfully, she _may_ survive. It depends on her will to live and in the case of most kidnapping victims in her condition, the strength of will necessary is not usually present."

Tessa thought about this for a moment, a deep frown on her face.

"Her condition?" This was Mardukas. He looked dispassionately at the young medical officer.

The technician looked at them and said in a voice that betrayed no emotions, "Yes, there are a number anomalies we have observed," she gestured to them to follow, "Please, come with me."

She led them to an adjacent room, filled with numerous pictures and x-rays of the girl.

She pointed to the first set and explained, "Due to the deep scarring on her wrists and ankles it is likely that she was restrained for extended periods of time. The scarring, however, is older, so this might have been in the past."

She then turned to the next set of pictures and continued.

"The area pictured is the underside of the arm at the elbow joint where veins are easily visible. Obviously there have been numerous injections, possibly of sedatives, performance altering drugs, or behavior modification drugs." She turned to Tessa, "She is suspected of being Whispered, correct?"

"Yes," she said simply, unable to say more.

"That increases the probability of BeMod drugs."

Tessa looked at the floor and said very quietly, "Has she been checked for more transmitters?"

The technician nodded, stating crisply, "We have removed one from her thigh. It was inoperable when she entered the Da Danaan, however. We also found this…"

In a clear vial was stored a small object. Upon further inspection Tessa could see that it was an iridescent blue earring in the shape of a teardrop.

Taking it gingerly in her hand, she examined it closely.

Briefly, her eyes widened and then took on a blank sheen. "Black technology," she confirmed.

"Mr. Mardukas?" she prompted after a fair span of time had been spent in observing the tiny object, "Can you have someone bring me a computer unit that is unconnected to the Da Danaan's A.I. or any other of the ship's networks?"

He looked vaguely uncertain for a moment, but did not question her. Simply stating, "Aye, ma'am" he fired an order off to a subordinate waiting directly outside of the small medical room.

She looked back at the haunting images of the girl on the operating table, still absorbing the information the doctor had relayed and piecing it together with what must have happened to the unfortunate girl.

There was a brief knock at the door.

"Second Lieutenant Melissa Mao, requesting entrance."

"Enter," she replied curtly, eyes still on the x-rays and photos. She turned around with a sigh, taking up her braid with her hand and once again twirling its end.

Mao saluted sharply, mostly for the benefit of Mardukas, being one to ignore what she considered to be rather silly formalities in front of Tessa.

"At ease, Second Lieutenant."

She became very much at ease. Mardukas made a small sound of distaste, but did not dare to do more in front of the Captain. Furthermore, he was well aware of the Second Lieutenant's propensity to commit violent acts.

"How did your mission go?" she asked quietly.

"In addition to the mission objective, Geist team has obtained several Arastol units and shipped them to Merida Island for research. There were two casualties in the ground troops and one member remains critical injured. Minimal damage to the M-9 units and the ARX-7 Arbalest. No lambda driver activity was noted on either side. These Venom units encountered appeared to either lack lambda driver units or pilots capable of using the units."

She finished the report with a smart salute. Tessa merely nodded. She would see a fully detailed report later. Other matters were on her mind.

"How did the girl come to be in this condition?"

Such an complicated question. The one Mao had been waiting for.

Melissa Mao did not sigh nor flinch. In her opinion there were worse conditions for the target to be in…the memory of the commander of the sea pirates came readily to mind…_he _could have been sent to heaven in a canister after Kurz had been through with him. This girl was comparatively whole.

Then she remembered the Arastols' behavior and one word came to mind.

….."bullshit"…

"The majority of the enemy casualties were caused by…." She didn't really know how to explain it and Mardukas was giving her a rather severe look, so she explained it as best as she could, "…friendly fire."

Tessa's eyes widened, but it was Mardukas that spoke first, "Please clarify that phrase, Second Lieutenant…their troops started killing each other?"

"Actually, it was more like the Arastols started killing their own troops."

There was a shocked silence that hung in the air between the three. The medical personnel, apparently forgotten in the midst of the report, made a small coughing sound and shuffled her papers noisily before heading out of the room.

Tessa, regaining her composure, finally managed to ask, "and how did this lead to the target's condition?"

"The Arastols shut down for a time and the target walked through them, seemingly trying to get to the Mithril troops. However, when she had advanced to the front ranks of the Arastols, one of the units attempted to execute her. Urzu 7's reaction saved her from more extensive injuries."

"Saved…?" quipped Mardukas credulously.

"The shot had been aimed at her head, Sir."

Mardukas gave a small nod that was his equivalent of an apology. Even his dislike of the young Sergeant couldn't argue with _that_.

Mao's eyes drifted to the x-rays and photos on the wall and caused her to think for the thousandth time that the Whispered were among the least fortunate people in the universe. Putting the thought aside, she continued.

"Urzu 7 then personally rescued the victim and rushed her to the medics. They have reported that they immediately removed the tracking chip from her arm. Urzu 7 has initially been debriefed by Lieutenant Commander Kalinin and will submit a full report upon his arrival in Tokyo. As of now he has returned to Angel to continue his mission there."

Tessa looked thoughtful for a moment. Slowly, she tilted her head upwards and said quietly to Melissa, "Thank you, Second Lieutenant."

Mao merely saluted and left. Her exit was soon followed by the arrival of the computer unit. The man who brought it mumbled something about it being borrowed from a crewmember.

Taking the earring out of its glass vial she pulled at the backing, still mulling over the details of Melissa's report.

As she further examined the earring Mardukas noted that her face had changed.

This was more than Captain Testarossa looking very serious. It looked as if someone else was guiding her hands.

She expertly turned the backing until there was an almost inaudible metallic click.

A small, very fine cord uncoiled from out of it. She plugged it into a slot in the computer usually designated for smaller appliances, like cameras or data chip readers.

The look faded from Tessa's face.

The background of the Japanese idol faded and the screen immediately went black. After a moment, a long list of names in red, grey, and white came up. A command stating "ACTIVE MODE SUSPENDED" scrolled at the top of the screen.

After a moment, "AUTHORIZATION CODE?" scrolled across the top.

Tessa scanned the list. At the top, mysteriously, was the girl's own name, "COLLEEN RILEY" in red. It was followed by several more names in red, a scattering of names in white, and a handful in grey. The bottom of the list was also a name she recognized, "NICHOLAS CARVER MB."

M.B….?

_M.B…._A small light bulb of recognition went off in her mind, _"Mediterranean Branch." Carver was a Mithril operative killed three years ago. I don't remember the circumstances though…_

What was _that_ doing here?

What _was_ this sort of authorization code?

As it turned out she didn't have the luxury of pondering such questions. A minute later the screen again went black followed by a popping and sizzling noise and the smell of burnt circuitry.

It appeared that it would be necessary to apologize personally to the computer's owner, as she doubted that it or any of its data would be restored to them.

Sighing, Tessa removed the cord. The earring itself was completely undamaged.

She frowned and placed it back within the vial and looked back towards the hospital wing. Tessa realized that it could very well be her on that operating table.

One of the reasons she had joined Mithril was to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Sighing, she silently prayed that this Colleen Riley would be all right.

**---------------**

"Liar! Jerk! Idiot! Jerk! Moody Military otaku!"

To say Chidori Kaname was not pleased was a severe understatement.

If her classmates were not used to her muttering perhaps they would have thought their classroom representative had finally lost it completely.

In actuality, some people truly did think that, but none of them were willing to face the halisen to state it…or the possibility of Sagara eventually retaliating…

Those two were quite a dangerous pair together _or_ apart.

Kyouko just laughed silently to herself, quickly snapping a picture of her friend's perturbed expression. Her best friend always acted like this when a test was coming and Sagara was nowhere to be found.

And, much to Kaname's dismay, fewer and fewer people were buying the excuse of her being nothing but an overly dedicated class representative.

She snapped another picture of Kaname staring at the pencil she had just broken in half with a look somewhere between dazed and irritated. Kyouko giggled again. Sagara was the only one who was able to cause _that_ particular mix.

She caught Kaname glancing at the door. Once English ended Sagara would certainly find himself in extreme danger if he dared (she could picture Kaname saying that indignantly in her head) to be absent.

Kyouko clapped her hands together and looked up at the ceiling in mock-seriousness and quietly intoned, "Be safe, Sagara-kun."

**---------------**

Indeed, some unknown deity must have had their ear outside of classroom 2-4 at Jindai High School because (exactly coinciding with the "snap!" of yet another of Kaname's pencils) an out of breath Sousuke Sagara flung open the door interrupting Eri Kagurazaka's recitation of the sentence "The men walked their dog through the park on their way to their friend's apartment to eat macaroni and cheese while watching penguins."

Kagurazaka-sensei merely sighed and began massaging her temples with her right hand when she saw him in his rumpled uniform, hoping against hope that he had perhaps left his weapons at his home for the first time in his eventful high school career.

She took a deep breath.

"Sagara," she said rather wearily, "Sit down quietly with no explosions, gunfire, or other acts lacking in propriety or against this school's rules or this country's laws. In fact, I _expect_ that for the rest of the day you should behave as a model student as if you are representing the entirety of Jindai High School."

As the speech progressed his fellow classmates noticed their friend grow more rigid and the sweat upon his forehead, already fairly visible due to his apparent dash to the school, increased considerably.

Some were tempted to clap in agreement. That was, however, a risky activity.

For a moment Sousuke wondered if he should thank Kagurazaka-sensei for the advice and mission objectives. He fought the urge to salute his teacher.

The image of a halisen flashed in his mind.

That immediately quelled the urge.

He instead opted to bow and apologize before walking to his desk and pulling his notebook out of his school bag.

After the hectic mission the classroom felt like a reprieve. He had to admit to himself that he was fairly exhausted, even for a Specialist. Chiding himself for not doing so immediately, he looked over the room scanning for possible security breaches that might have developed in his absence.

He could detect no threats.

Hearing a rather loud, "Humph!" he looked up to see Kaname tossing her hair. He had forgotten to greet her.

He corrected himself, there was still one hostile element left in the room.

Eri smiled and began to pass out the Japanese History exams.

He once again was forced to correct himself concerning the present situation within the classroom…

There were presently two hostile elements within the room and he was dangerously low on ammunition.

But after all, he was a Specialist.

However, perhaps not even a Specialist could remember the events of Edo period in incredibly specific detail after the experiences he had had over the course of the past few days.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that Chidori would be disappointed in his performance after all. She might, however, merely use it to illustrate the fact that he was quite horrible at Japanese History without her tutoring. Sousuke hoped it would be the latter.

He had missed her study session, too, he thought belatedly. Resigned to a withdrawal at best and utter, crushing defeat at worst, he began to try to recall his hazy studying from the past day and a half and attempt to answer the test questions.

_Yes,_ he thought, glancing at the first question, _Chidori will most certainly express her dissatisfaction with my results on this exam._

The image of the halisen did not fade from his mind this time.

**---------------**

"Miss Iron has left us."

The man delivering the news looked faintly nervous. He had a fine spraying of sweat across his brow.

The other man looked unconcerned, as if the matter were a gnat that was annoying him. He yawned.

"Left us?" he drawled.

"Captured or dead…most likely Mithril's doing."

He smiled at the mention of Mithril. She really hadn't changed at all. Still trying futilely to help them. After his moment of private reflection he continued.

"Mithril shot her?" There was almost amusement in his voice.

"No, the Operator apparently lost control of the Arastols. _They_ shot her. Her tracking chips were damaged after this. We do not know her current whereabouts or status."

The other person who was sitting with him, Mr. Gold, nearly choked on his silk martini as the intelligence operative noted this.

_He_, however, took the news in stride. Perhaps this problem could be equated with a spider bothering him. It was a more significant threat than the gnat, but hardly a thing worth worrying about. A spider was only dangerous if it bit you.

"That Miss Iron was very clever." He replied off-handedly with an indulgent smile.

Mr. Gold shot him a look filled with barely concealed disbelief at his associate's nonchalant attitude. The girl had been a valuable asset.

"Yes, Miss Iron even tried to make our job easier. Let us hope she continues to do so."

He smiled and took the last sip of his vodka. He put the empty glass down and rose from his chair, curtly nodding to Mr. Gold.

Yes, spiders were dangerous if they bit you, but he knew perfectly well that it did not take much effort to crush a spider before that occurred. Just squeeze it between your fingertips and it pops.

It was such an easy, lazy gesture to make.

**---------------**

He decided it might be wise to wait for Kaname and personally explain the reasons for his absence after school. She had, however, gone to give a stack of papers to another teacher to distribute to her students.

The Japanese History exam had certainly not gone well.

He had not known anything about the development and implementation of Kokugaku, except that the kanji had meant "nation studies." However, he didn't suppose that he would be given high marks for merely giving the meaning of the kanji…

Additionally, much to his embarrassment, he was unable to fully answer the questions concerning the Satsuma Rebellion, or the accompanying painting entitled "Kirino Toshiaki's Wife." Nor was he able to explain the place of the samurai within the bureaucratic system of the Tokugawa Shogunate with his usual level of accurateness regarding matters of military history.

These were what Kaname would call "otaku" things…all things he probably would have known had he been able to attend her study session.

Indeed, he _had_ known about the advances in weaponry during the period, due to the mass production of steel just prior to the Edo period's beginning, and the subsequent evolution of the Japanese sword and other varieties of weaponry due to it. Unfortunately, that had not been as important of a fact as he had anticipated it might be.

In fact, it hadn't even appeared on the exam.

Indeed, his lack of knowledge was compounded by his lack of sleep, and a sharp headache that had slowly infiltrated its way through his temples somewhere around the question concerning the influence of Neo-Confucianism on economics, politics, and military life. He had picked up on the implications of the doctrine in the Bushido code, but could not answer any other part of the question.

In fact, all he could remember due to the throbbing in his head was a passage he had read on the _tessen_, a fan made from iron that could be used to strike opponents that a samurai considered unworthy. This fact promptly conjured up images of Kaname…and even more pain.

This reminded him that he should tell her that there was a historical precedent for women using weapons. In fact, during the Edo period all Japanese women were required to be masters of the _naginata_ by age 18 in order to defend their own homes in case of attack. He would bring this up as a good example to follow in the matter of her own protection.

The door to the classroom opened and closed, and in walked Kaname with a large, beaming smile on her face.

Had there been any snipers in the area, at that moment she would certainly have been made a target.

He had personally checked the area for snipers beforehand. It wasn't a problem.

But he had seen that smile before.

It was not a smile of greeting.

No, he had only seen that smile on the face of enemy interrogators. He promptly forgot to tell her his thoughts concerning the use of the _naginata_ in the Edo period.

She collected her school bag at her desk and turned to him finally with great flourish, tossing her long hair.

"So Sousuke," impossibly, the smile grew larger, "How did you do on your Japanese History test?"

He could feel himself begin to sweat again, despite his best efforts at concealment.

He entered into the mentality of a trained soldier facing a vicious enemy interrogator, bent on mining his opponent for every useful article of information possible.

_I must not divulge information. I must not divulge information. I must not divulge information._

The thought repeated over and over in his mind as he looked at the interrogator's smiling face.

_But_, his mind suddenly reminded him,_ it is only Chidori_.

Yes, indeed, it was only Chidori before him asking a friendly, normal question.

He drew himself up tall and answered.

"Not well at all. In fact, were it a mission I would have certainly fai-"

Retribution was swift, the halisen connected with his head at the same time her kick connected with his gut.

"Wrong answer!" She shouted.

She then performed a textbook German suplex on him, sending the sergeant crashing onto the floor and three desks crashing on all sides of him.

"That was for whatever weird otaku thing you were thinking before you answered!"

Kaname stood over him with her hands on her hips, still keeping a secure grip on her halisen. The analogy of a hunter standing over its prey wasn't a far cry from reality.

He stood up slowly, "Chidori, that hurt."

"Good. If you don't wish to incur further injury you had better come to my apartment by five o'clock tomorrow night. You will then eat the sukiyaki you missed last night. That is your objective. You must not fail."

Kaname was proud of herself. She had managed to sound incredibly Sousuke-esque. Let that idiotic otaku just _try_ to misunderstand her invitation!

"Chidori…?" He was confused. Kaname was in grave need of a manual so he could understand her requests and correlate them with her actions.

She turned back to him with a slightly gentler expression and smiled.

She didn't look like an interrogator anymore. That was certainly an improvement.

"Let's go," she said.

Even though the intensity of his headache had increased due to Kaname's overzealous greeting, he felt glad to be back here with her.

If she had glanced back at him at the moment perhaps she would have seen a ghost of a smile on his face at this thought.

---------------------------------

A/N: Thank you everyone that has read so far! I hope you are enjoying this so far, and if by chance you are not, tell me about that too…we'll see what I can do for you. Review, please!

The next chapter will have a bit of romance and some action as well, so stay tuned!

Text taken from http/ you're interested in the Edo period, the site will give you some basic information.

Again, thanks for reading!


	3. Three Little Words

Chapter 3 – Three Little Words

Hell.

She wasn't sure what it looked like, but she was fairly certain that she would be going there.

Perhaps she already was there.

She didn't know. Her eyelids felt very heavy, and it took too much effort to open them at all. She felt incurably lazy.

There was merely a dull throbbing pain throughout her body that her mind, which was only capable of making out indistinct and foggy figures, could not understand.

There was a nothingness and a pain and a haze. That was pretty much it.

If this was Hell, it wasn't as bad as she had imagined it.

She willed her eyes to open, onto whatever sight was there, not knowing what would greet her.

She was in a flat, gray, and metallic room on a bed in between silk sheets wearing a hospital gown.

Indeed, she hadn't been mistaken in the least. She _was_ in Hell. She had been trapped in another holding cell, another price would be exacted, and worst of all, she had lived.

In everything she had attempted, she had failed.

Had Jacob Marley seen all of the links she had forged for the chain around her, he might have hesitated for many years more before attempting to save Scrooge. In comparison to Colleen's imagined chain, Marley's burden was light. All she could do now was add more links.

Marley had gotten off so easily.

Colleen had returned to Hell, she herself would be further doomed there, she would doom others there, and, ultimately, her escape had once again been cut off.

Everything she had planned had utterly failed.

Her head flopped to one side, the fogginess in her vision snatching upon the dim outlines of two figures standing at the bedside. Her eyes widened as she centered in on one of them.

Even in her haze she could see someone unmistakable.

This was indeed Hell and _he_ was the Devil.

---------------------------------

In purely Sousuke style, there was a knock on the door precisely at five o'clock. Having just finished cutting the stem away from the final shiitake mushroom, Kaname went to answer it.

It was, as expected, Sousuke.

However, Sousuke himself was not quite as expected...

There were dark circles under his vaguely bloodshot eyes. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days. Perhaps he really _hadn't_ slept in days.

She realized she had been staring at him for an entire minute without saying anything or welcoming him into her apartment.

On reflex she put one hand on the back of her head and let out her horribly fake sounding laugh. Sousuke continued looking at her with his usual serious expression.

"Chidori…" he began tentatively, "I have arrived as you have asked me to."

He had almost said, "ordered." That would have been an extreme tactical oversight on his part. Sousuke mentally shook himself; such mistakes often resulted in injuries and possible death.

Kaname practically shoved him through her door, murmuring that the sukiyaki was almost done.

Unsure of what to do Sousuke just remained standing in the place Kaname had pushed him to with a look of confusion upon his face…as if he had been left behind enemy lines with no possibility of back up. Kaname's apartment was always, to some extent, very unfamiliar terrain. One needed to proceed in it as through a minefield.

Minefields could be decidedly less painful, however.

But still, this was standard operating procedure, and he knew that there was no place that he would have rather been.

In the process of gathering the ingredients together for the _warishita_ sauce, she noticed that Sousuke had remained standing in the exact same position in which she had left him and now remained there, looking at her with tell-tale beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Sousuke, you can sit down if you like."

He blinked at her once or twice and then promptly sat down on the floor.

"Sousuke!"

He looked bewildered, He _had_ sat down. Thus, in his own estimation, he had complied perfectly with her request.

The meat made a sizzling sound. It seemed to mirror Kaname's own impending emotions. She placed her hand on her hips and then walked until she stood directly over him.

"Sousuke…"

"Yes, Chidori?"

"What did I say to you?"

"You told me to sit. There are no problems, I have complied with what you ordere-"

His earlier thoughts concerning such word choice with Chidori had been prophetic. That word had triggered one of the mines. It was about to go off.

The end of his sentence was suddenly cut off as the wooden serving spoon came down upon his head with a cry of "WRONG!"

_Boom._

"Chidori," he began again, "I fail to see wha-"

And another.

_Boom._

This time she eschewed the spoon altogether and with a surprising burst of strength picked up the clueless sergeant and tossed him over to her sofa while shouting, "The couch, you idiot! Normal people sit on the couch!"

Sousuke landed with a rather sickening crunch after which he mumbled, "that hurt, Chidori."

However, remembering his tired looking face at the door, Kaname almost immediately felt bad for her behavior.

But then again, she rationalized, that moody military otaku had deserved it. Yes, he did.

She was going through the trouble of cooking for him and he had the nerve to sit on the floor. Really, how could that be proper behavior when a girl asks a boy over to her house for a home cooked meal?

That Sousuke really was incredibly clueless.

Kaname worked in silence for a while, adding the onions and the mushrooms, and mixing the sauce together.

Sousuke was his usual quiet self. Kaname, on the other hand, was now rather frustrated with the fact that they had begun the evening on such a sour note.

He had been gone on a mission in who knows what place in the world doing who knew what for the past few days, and he had still come over here.

She felt a little guilty.

Trying to strike up some conversation she said, "Hey Sousuke, did you hear the drama club is going to put on a play at school?"

He grunted an affirmative answer.

"I think they are going to do _Romeo and Juliet_, perhaps Hayashimizu-sempai will want you to secure the event…"

He didn't respond. She went on.

"Oh course, you'll probably end up blowing up the scenery with a grenade, or mistaking the props for terrorist bombs, or mixing the play up with reality and really killing Tybalt or interrogating him…in front of the entire audience. Maybe you will try to save Juliet from a possible terrorist conspiracy… I really don't know what that Hayashimizu thinks appointing an otaku like you to things like that."

For a second he did not say anything, and then he gave an absentminded, "Affirmative."

Their conversation ended for a while.

They lapsed into silence, only disturbed by the quiet simmering of the sukiyaki.

Meanwhile, when the sukiyaki was finished cooking, Kaname brought the pot to the table, as well as their respective dishes. Sousuke was still unnervingly quiet. At these times she almost wished for one of his long drawn out otaku war stories.

_Almost_.

She walked over to the couch.

He was slumped a bit, and dozing off. She frowned and felt guilty again. Whatever Mithril had had him doing, it had taken a lot out of him. For some reason, the strain was more visible than usual.

Him, sleeping there like that, reminded her of the time she had cut his hair. Just like the last time, Kaname slowly moved her face closer to his…but at that moment, she noticed that his face was rather flushed. She let the opportunity pass again, knowing that she would most likely be angry with herself later.

There were more important things, though.

Knowing that she did so at some risk, she put the back of her hand on his forehead. Sousuke woke up with a start at her touch, but did not switch into full on combat mode seeing who it was.

She was the only one in the world who could have done such a thing.

"Sousuke," she said reprovingly, "you have a fever."

She hadn't removed her hand yet.

His face turned a bit redder, but not due to his temperature.

"It…" there was a note of hesitancy in his voice, "It is not a problem. My sleeping pattern has not been up to my normal standard as of late."

In Sousuke, the language of military otaku, he was trying to say he had been having trouble sleeping.

Perhaps he was worried about something.

Kaname drew herself up to her full height and put her hands upon her hips, and responded, "It certainly is a problem. After we eat, I'll have to take care of you. Really, if you have problems like these you don't have to keep them to yourself."

Her voice lacked the edge she usually reserved for lecturing him.

"But Chidori, you ordered me to rendezvous at this location at 1700 hours. I came to the conclusion that these orders were non-negotiable."

"Well, you were wrong, now we'll eat. It will do you better than those MRE's. Then I'll have to do something about you."

She silently served him some and brought it over to the couch for him. He thanked her and began to eat. As she picked up the pieces of beef with her chopsticks, she stole a look at the boy seated across from him.

He still looked exhausted, and there was a note in his eyes she had only seen a few times. It was a kind of hollowness. It reminded her of the look he had had when he returned from his mission in Afghanistan back when he had first come to protect her. Something had been bothering him then, but she hadn't known enough about him or his life to be able to ask.

She had been right to think something was worrying him, then. But she hadn't the courage to ask.

But things were different from that time after Afghanistan. They had come too far and through too many things together from then.

She had said that she only trusted him and she hadn't been lying.

Oblivious and destructive though he tended to be, it takes a different kind of man to make a girl feel safe while running through a shower of bullets on a cruise ship as seemingly dozens of robots chased after you.

That was something unique to Sousuke. She only felt that secure around him.

Of course, dodging bullets and Arastols was also an activity that was fairly unique to Sousuke as well.

Yes, Kaname sighed, her life was like one of those ridiculous action movies she had seen during her stay in America. However, she bet that none of those American movie heroes had ever caused so many catastrophes as Sousuke unwittingly did. Nor were any of those superheroes seventeen-year-old mercenaries disguised as high school students.

She knew very well, had she been in Sousuke's shoes, she probably would have broken down a long time ago and come off much worse than he had.

She smiled, they really had come far. Three months ago she would have utterly denied all of these thoughts and just resorted to linking a number of insults together while thinking angrily about his latest stunt.

But now they trusted each other. She knew how much she cared for him. Things had changed.

No, she had admitted it to herself, it was more than caring for him. She loved him, but for all her usual gusto, the thought of telling him scared her more than anything.

That was why Kaname couldn't just leave him to deal with everything on his own, be it a fever, or whatever else he was trying to keep from her.

She owed him that much…and so much more.

No, she thought, as if someone had challenged her to a contest of some sort, Kaname Chidori would certainly not allow for that!

He finished eating and Kaname cleared the plates away, disappearing for a moment and bringing back with her a pillow and a blanket. Returning to the couch, she propped the pillow up on one end. Sousuke again looked at her in confusion.

"Chidori?"

"Lay down," she commanded.

"Chidori, I believe tha-"

She smacked him very lightly on the side of the head with her halisen, declaring in a soft voice, "I told you to lay down, you idiot."

Sousuke may have been ill, but that was no reason to let there be any weakness in her authority over him.

He complied; judging the course of action was best employed in order to avoid injury. To his surprise, she laid the blanket over him, and tucked it around him, murmuring, "Really, you're just like a kid. I always have to take care of you."

But he noted there was no edge in her voice, as was usually reserved for such comments. And she _had_ used the halisen quite gently.

It was an indescribable feeling that he had at that moment. Never in his life could he remember being treated like this…she was gentle, and her comments were made with a small smile on her face and a look of concern in her eyes.

In the Majahideen, one could not afford to succumb to any sickness, otherwise they certainly would perish in whatever attack had come. They rarely had the luxury of pity. That was simply the harsh reality of that world. It was necessary to merely survive.

In Mithril you would be taken into the sick bay, yes, but that was purely functional. Perhaps if you were lucky, your comrades came to visit you, as Kurz and Melissa did on the rare occasions he had been there. However, there was nothing markedly different in their tactics regarding him. Not surprisingly, these visit were usually comprised of Weber making a crude anatomical reference and Mao responding with an effective (as one was able to be with Kurz) tactical display of force.

With Kaname, he knew he would be able to rest for a moment. He could almost believe he was safe with her. She came back dragging a chair from her kitchen with her, setting it near the couch.

He had never had a real home. He still didn't consider any single place to be his home. But he knew he wanted to stay where Kaname was. What he felt like when he was with her was the closest thing to what he thought his comrades felt when they talked about their own homes.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Sousuke," she finally got the nerve to ask, "Are you okay?"

"As you have pointed out, my physical condition is not up to the standards that I would like them to be as I am currently suffering from an elevated body temperature due to an increased level of white blood cell activity."

Kaname shook her head.

"Idiot," she said softly, hitting him softly on the side of his head with her halisen again.

"You trust me, right?" Her eyes looked at him with a touch up something in them…Apprehension? Hope?

He really wasn't good at this sort of thing. He was even worse when his temples were throbbing as they were.

Noticing his silence, she leaned closer and said very quietly, "You know that if you have problems you can tell me, right?"

Images flashed in her mind of sitting on a park bench with a Bonta-kun mascot, holding its hand, saying similar words. That was probably the closest she had gotten to touching him in that way. The most courage that she could muster up after that was to grab his sleeve.

On an impulse, she grabbed his hand, just as she had done on that day. He stiffened up for a moment, but then relaxed.

"Chidori," he began tentatively, "There is no one that I trust more than you. You are one of the few certainties in my life. However, I cannot tell you about my mission, it is classified, as you know."

At first, she could feel her face redden at the compliment. However, concerning his problem, she only nodded, she expected answers like that about Mithril's doings. At least she knew it was something directly related to his work. Normally, she would have become angry with him and expressed her displeasure with her halisen, but it seemed he wanted to tell her…

"However, I will say that the mission did not go as planned and perhaps I placed more importance on the target than I should have."

He sighed deeply, those three words, which up until now had been rendered impotent by Kaname's mere presence came back to him.

"Are you sure you can't tell me why?" she asked softly. He took a deep breath. In a way, he was disobeying orders, or at least relaxing them to an extent that he knew he should not.

Orders and Kaname, however, rarely mixed well.

He trusted Kaname with his own life. The only reason he could ever foresee her revealing anything he confided in her was in the event the enemy captured her and obtained it through rigorous interrogation. That thought made him shudder.

He simply would not allow that eventuality to come to pass.

He needed to show her that he did trust her. Only her.

The young sergeant took a deep breath and explained.

"The target was the reason I am here now. Mithril placed her under a program of observation three years ago, and they failed. She was captured and detained by the enemy in an indeterminate location for a duration of three years. Mithril could not afford to fail in any more of its missions where people like her were concerned. She… is why I am here."

"Whispered…" she said quietly.

"Affirmative."

His apprehensions regarding Wraith came into the forefront of her mind. Sousuke had known the stakes at the time, and knew the possibilities. In his mind a "program of observation" had already proved inadequate. Kaname understood what he had been thinking…not much had separated the two Whispereds at that time.

It could have been her in that indeterminate location facing whatever that girl had endured.

She almost _had_ been there on several occasions, and certainly would have been if it hadn't been for Sousuke.

"In my last mission I did not do what I should have for her."

His hand was sweaty in her own as he recounted it.

"Is she…still alive?" The question hung in the air for a moment. He released her hand and drew it back under the blanket.

"I do not know." He wasn't looking at her. He got up and walked into her kitchen.

"Sousuke…" she said. Her voice was strange.

He didn't turn around.

"Sousuke," she said again, raising her voice.

That idiot was ignoring her! He had confided in her and then _dared_ to wallow in his gloominess and ignore her! She would have to do something to get him out of that mood of his.

"Sousuke!" The tone of her voice finally caught his attention. She was walking up to him and fast closing the gap between them.

Suddenly, she grabbed hold of his arm and began dragging him back to the couch saying in a loud voice, "You're sick and I told you to lie down!"

Sousuke was shocked out of his somber mood by her sudden outburst. He was flung hard against the couch and had the blanket unceremoniously tossed over him again.

"Geez, you gloomy sergeant! How are you ever going to get better if you're waltzing off across the world without my permission!"

"Chidori, I-"

"It's not 'Chidori, I-'! I'm not going through all this trouble for my own health!"

"But Chidori I was-"

She got angrier at the fact that he was still arguing with her. She knew that at some point most people knew when it was considerably unwise to keep arguing with Kaname Chidori. Sousuke was in the minority that did not embrace this fact.

"You were? You were what?"

"Uh…"

She retrieved her halisen from the counter where she had set it.

Even seeing it within her grip, he could not utter anything else but "uh…"

"**Sousuke!"**

He suddenly took on a very somber demeanor, standing up again he looked at her very seriously and said, "Chidori, you shouldn't ask a man that."

Even taking his illness into account, Kaname did not hold back of her next swing with her halisen.

---------------------------------

Her brain felt sluggish and feeble, no doubt from the number of medications they had put her on during her recovery process.

She took stock of the situation as best as she was able to in her current state.

From her vantage point she could see two men, most likely armed. One of them was _him_. It would be a mistake to underestimate that fact. She was well aware of the fact that she had no weapon of her own and one of her opponents was _that_ man. She slowly moved her hand up to her ear, pretending to scratch an itch above it.

Her earring was gone. They must have finally found out.

Shit.

_He _was advancing towards her. Much to her own disgust she could feel her eyes widen in fear as he approached. Ever since she had first seen him, he had had that sort of power over her. She blinked her eyes, trying to block his hazy figure away. Neither he, nor the other blurry figure that she didn't recognize disappeared.

Her mind raced as fast as it was capable of.

Her whole body ached. Her reactions were not up to their best. Her wound probably was not conducive to any useful movement. Lastly, _he_ was right there. _RIGHT THERE!_ Her brain screamed.

Her brain was wracking itself for some way out, something to do. There was a glass filled with water next to her on a tray, presumably for taking her pills and sedatives and BeMods when she finally awoke.

She made an incomprehensible guttural noise, as if she had lost all powers of coherent speech, reclining as little as possible.

Really, she must have looked pitiful.

The unknown blurry figure silently pushed the glass towards her. She grasped it as feebly as she could, betraying nothing and hoping _he_ would draw closer.

He had reached the side of her bed and sat down at a vacated seat there. From here he would probably speak to her and tell her of the futility of everything that she had done and reassert that there was really only was one purpose for her.

He could stuff it. She had heard it all. He made her angry, deadly angry. He would not determine her fate any longer.

In one swift movement, she broke the glass in two on the metal bars at the head of the bed and jumped at him, holding the sharp edge against his neck, pricking it a little and drawing blood.

Her entire body was wracked with pain because of the abrupt movement. She could feel the stitches ripping as she did so. Large black spots clouded her vision, threatening to overcome her. A cold object came to rest on the back of her head.

"Please…" came a small feminine voice, "Miss Riley, we're here to help you."

It was not him.

It was not him, at all.

It was too late for that though, she certainly looked like Leonard Testarossa. For a moment, she almost felt sorry for her.

But it was too late for that.

She had only one escape, and it wasn't through any door.

She slowly turned around, the glass still pricking into the unknown girl's neck a bit.

The other unknown man stood holding his gun to her head. She dropped the glass. The girl slumped. The other man did not move his gun from the spot it was trained on, though.

Colleen merely looked at him with cold expression.

"Do you intend to frighten me?" She asked, her voice low and rough from disuse.

"You have shown yourself to be a threat."

She cocked her head to the side a bit and smiled a twisted, mirthless smile.

"I am a threat. I was a threat far before I was here. I will remain a threat. You do not frighten me."

She reached out and placed her hand over his on the gun's trigger.

"Do it," she taunted. "Do it and I will thank you eternally."

The gun did not move and the stranger did not flinch. They just stood, face to face, both hands on the trigger.

---------------------------------

Kalinin did not back down, and knew that his adversary wouldn't either. Her eyes were hollow and had an animalistic quality to them. He had only seen those eyes once before on one so young.

Sousuke Sagara had looked at him the same way when they had first met in Afghanistan.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Captain Testarossa drag herself into the corner, away from the confrontation. Her eyes were wide with shock.

Colleen Riley spoke again.

"I asked one thing of one of your subordinates, the one we call "Kashim" because of the person your organization knows as Guaron, unfortunately they were unable to comply."

"What did you want?" He asked simply.

"I told him three simple words. 'Let me die.' I am not afraid of that. I am more afraid of remaining in this hell than the one that awaits my soul."

Sagara had privately mentioned the girl's request to him. He again chose not to respond.

"Maybe," she said with a soft intensity, leaning further against the barrel of the gun and squeezing her small white hand more strongly around his, "you can fulfill my request for me."

Suddenly, the door to the hospital wing clattered open with a cry of "Tessa-chaaaaaaan! What did you do with my computer?" The girl, probably half fainting in pain, was distracted just long enough that she loosened her grip on his own hand and allowed him to bring his free hand down sharply on the pressure point in her neck, rendering her unconscious.

---------------------------------

Kurz looked in disbelief at the disarray of the scene before him. Tessa was backed up against the wall, a look of horror on her face, Kalinin was bent down over the again unconscious girl and was in the business of hoisting her back onto the bed and pressing the emergency button near the bedside.

Tessa righted herself and walked shakily forward, until she was directly in front of him.

Abruptly, she bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, Sergeant Weber!"

He noticed that Tessa had a small cut on her neck.

It was all incredibly confusing.

All he had wanted was his computer.

---------------------------------

The overly serious mood, even for him, that had clung to Sousuke earlier in the night did not return.

Indeed, Kaname noted that he was his old otaku self.

He had even gone so far as to suggest that she should learn a valuable lesson from history and went on to explain that the mastery of a weapon by women age eighteen and older had been mandatory during the Edo period. He then went on to list several modern equivalents she might try, as the _naginata_ that they had used would be largely ineffective against any serious terrorist threats…

She had suggested he learn from history and gave him a good beating with her halisen…although more gentle than usual, she considered herself to be a kind soul after all. But, really, that idiotic, jerk of a military otaku _never_ learned!

_She_ then lectured _him_ in return about actually learning the real history so he didn't do so poorly on his tests. His credits were in danger enough, and no amount of weaponry could prevent that kind of peril.

_And besides_, she thought with a smile, holding up her halisen, _I've already mastered all the weaponry that I will ever need._

She finished brushing her teeth and went out into her living room once again. Sousuke was finally asleep. Earlier she had re-tucked the blanket around him exactly like her mother used to do with her when she was sick and needed to be taken care of.

A slight blush came to her cheeks as she realized that she had insisted that he stay in her apartment over night. Her own boldness sometimes surprised her. But, she rationalized to herself, Sousuke wouldn't take proper care of himself, so someone else would have to…

She noticed the pile of weapons and armaments on the floor in her room just inside the door, his damned cell phone on top of the small mountain. He had insisted on putting his Glock 17 under his pillow, just in case. There had been a protracted argument as to whether he should be allowed to keep even this weapon, but in the end, he would not give up, citing her a litany of possible catastrophes that might befall her should they be taken by surprise by the enemy when he was inadequately armed.

It was a matter of her protection and he would not concede.

She giggled, the gun was kind of like the military otaku's security blanket.

Quietly walking out into the living room, she stood watching him sleep.

She could protect him in her own way, just as he did her, although the idiotic otaku probably would never notice…

Kaname smiled to herself. No, if he noticed it wouldn't be very much like him at all. Turning back into her bedroom, she looked at him once more.

Even in his sleep he looked serious.

Hopefully, he would sleep more peacefully than usual.

She walked to the threshold of her bedroom and as she turned out the light, she whispered, "Oyasumi nasai, Sousuke."

---------------------------------

**A/N:** Phew! Another chapter done! Just so you all know, this is going to be a very long fic (as in, I have 11 chapters planned, as of right now, with about a fourth of the plot left to plan out Oo ).

Finally, on a completely random note, for some reason it entered into my head that Mao x Clouzot would be a cool pairing. Sooooo, if anyone should so find themselves wanting to write a fic of this pairing as a challenge, I would trade them a one-shot of their request…See? Random.

Hope to see you next chapter and thanks for reading this one! Again, please review and tell me what you like (or don't)!


	4. Through The Ringer

**Disclaimer:** Nope, still don't own it…

This chapter is dedicated to **Hikagi** and **Hououza**. Thanks for your support and encouragement!

Chapter 4 – Through the Ringer

The atmosphere was heavy and oppressive, as if the smoke that filled the crowded room weighed down upon its inhabitants. There was a throbbing murmur and clinking of glasses throughout the dingy room that muted the individual conversations, except for the occasional slurred exclamation of one of the more unruly patrons of the establishment.

Overall, it was the perfect place for a clandestine meeting.

Tucked in a booth at the corner of the room, half hidden from the neon lights was a figure that seemed rather out of place.

He sat there serenely, looking almost too young for the vodka martini he was sipping, still wearing his long black coat despite the warm temperature in the small room.

Leaning on the table, he gazed out in amusement at the drunken men attempting to play a game of darts and alternatively trying to unsuccessfully woo a blonde woman who obviously had not had that same hair color at the start of her life.

Despite his nonchalant expression, however, Leonard Testarossa was a tad bit annoyed.

And Leonard, when even the _slightest_ bit annoyed, could prove dangerous.

He was not the kind to hang out in dingy bars (fittingly located just off of Fleas Road) on the western coast of the United States if he could avoid it. He considered himself to be above such things.

But this was business.

This was _highly sensitive_ business.

The door opened, letting in a brief ocean breeze that was quickly smothered by the smell of cigarette smoke and cheap beer.

Leonard crinkled his nose in distaste, next time _he_ would choose the meeting place.

A man who had just entered lumbered in, all too obviously scanning the eclectic bunch of drunks and displaced beach goers assembled. Spotting Leonard, he made his way over, distracted for a moment by a flashing, plastic smile from the falsely blonde woman.

The fool almost tripped over one of the dart players, downed by several shots of cheap whiskey.

Leonard frowned disdainfully. He did not like idiocy.

The bumbling man sat down, puffing out in imagined self-importance in front of his superior.

Leonard merely put down his glass and looked on with a small, mirthless smile.

As an afterthought, his associate took off his hat and set it down on the table and mumbled, "Sorry, Mr. Silver, it was difficult for me to get away unnoticed…and there was a whole load of traffic on interstate 5."

Leonard merely continued smiling in response.

He wanted to get this over quickly and be done with the fool. he said, leaning on one hand, "we are ready to renew our former business contract."

He puffed himself up again.

"T'would be an honor, Mr. Silver. I hear you guys up there have managed to lose the…er…property, I had …er…acquired for you."

Oh, how Leonard hated uncouth idiots.

"If you can locate the property properly by the system initially established, we would be willing to pay triple."

He could literally see the dollar signs multiply in the operative's eyes. It was truly pitiful.

The man gave a laugh that resembled a dying horse's last neigh.

"You know I'd do anything for you all, Mr. Silver, you all just have to name it. I'll bring the, um, _property_ back to you."

He tugged at a sleeve of his uniform in a humble gesture.

Leonard merely smiled serenely at him.

"That will be all then, Mr. Copper."

The man, with as much of a spring in his step as such a boorish man could handle, sidled away and out of the dirty little bar, back to the duties he had evaded.

Leonard sighed, finishing the last sip of the martini.

Oh, how very much he hated idiocy in all its forms.

**------------------------------------------**

After comforting Tessa (and generally applying choice four letter words to the girl who had _dared_ do something to hurt her in the first place) Melissa Mao was taking a well deserved break and doing what she did best – drinking copious amounts of beer, smoking like a chimney, and lounging in a general state of undress.

This routine would have normally involved "disciplining" Kurz for his constant perverted comments and advances, but he had gone off to argue with (or merely ogle) the rather straight-laced supplies officer in order to receive a replacement laptop.

On top of all of the other trouble Tessa had had aboard the Tuatha Da Daanan that day, after Kurz's timely arrival, she was forced to sobbingly explain to him that his laptop's internal circuitry had met with a rather crispy and acrid smelling end.

The dumbass had then gone on to complain about the several unique, irreplaceable _movies_ and photo collections that he had had stored on it.

Mao, however, didn't worry too much. She was fairly certain that the damned pervert would find _ample_ replacements.

She popped the top of yet another beer, drank a swig, and lit a cigarette. Unfortunately, next she would have to undertake the paper work associated with her promotion to Second Lieutenant…she downed the rest of her beer thinking that she would enjoy herself before then.

There was a knock at the cabin's door.

Not giving a damn about decorum after the day she had already had (and being a tad drunk as a preparation for her paperwork), she simply gave a slurred, "Yeah?"

The door opened to reveal Clouzot on the other side.

Not even attempting to make herself "decent" (she always laughed at that phrase, any man would tell her she was f-cking "decent" enough…and then he be summarily beaten, if not worse).

She raised her hand and said in greeting, "Yo, Ben."

Knowing about his strict religious adherence, she didn't offer him a beer.

A long while ago, Clouzot would perhaps have raised an eyebrow at the fact that his colleague was wearing little other than her rolled down fatigues and a flimsy tank top, despite the fact that her immaculately pressed dress uniform was hanging in a corner of the room. However, Mao did have her reputation to keep up.

He leaned on the doorframe for a moment before closing the door and sitting on the standard issue desk chair that was found in all of the TDD-1's personnel cabins.

With a chuckle, he said, "We sure live in interesting times."

Mao frowned a bit at him, "Yeah, if by interesting you mean a crazy bitch trying to slit Tessa's throat."

He took on a far more sober tone. "Is our Princess still alright?"

"Yes, but," she crushed the empty beer can in her hand, "They shoved all the f-cking paperwork for their interesting times onto me!"

She jabbed a finger at her desk where there was, in addition to her normal administrational paperwork, a sizable stack of new official-looking documents.

Clouzot could only chuckle at her; he knew she was only masking her concern for her friend with her annoyance at the paperwork…at least mostly. However, the incident was not one that could be taken lightly.

"Those Whispered are something else, Melissa."

Mao looked at him for a moment, an inscrutable expression on her face. After a moment, she gave him a sly smile.

"You know," she said, taking a long drag from her cigarette, "If they keep it up, they might make all of the males of Mithril ball-less wonders."

He laughed. He should have been expecting such a vulgar response from her.

"Sagara's been tamed be a fan, Kalinin finally met his match, and half of the Da Danaan turns into stuttering trainees whenever the Captain is around."

Melissa merely shrugged her shoulders. There was no need to deny the truth.

"Ben," she said after a short silence, "Although I enjoy talking about the current events onboard, you can't just be here to talk about interesting times or to refuse my beer."

Inwardly, Clouzot smiled. Melissa was never one to waste time.

"In a way," he began, "I suppose the recent events onboard _are_ why I am here…in a way. But, I suppose, you can say I'm here to discuss our mutual acquaintance, Sergeant Weber."

Mao merely responded by raising an eyebrow.

"What about him?"

For once, she did not use her normal vulgar names for Kurz. It was her small acknowledgement that he had accidentally saved Tessa and prevented a messy situation from occurring.

She made a note to beat him….more softly next time.

At least for a short time.

Clouzot continued.

"We last decided that, concerning the promotion of someone to Sergeant Major, we would see how Sergeant Weber did when we put him through the ringer, correct?"

She nodded, recognition dawning in her eyes.

"Does the ringer try to off Tessa with a broken glass and then stare calmly at Kalinin when any sane person would be scared shitless?"

He gave a grim smile in affirmation.

"You want to assign Kurz as Colleen Riley's bodyguard?"

"Correct."

"That's some ringer," she commented, an amused smile on her face. The enmity between the two was well known aboard the Da Danaan. Clouzot didn't respond directly however.

"Least they didn't name this one Angel."

**------------------------------------------**

A day later, across the Pacific Ocean, Kaname Chidori's day dawned early.

…Way too damn early, in her opinion.

However, she hadn't yet fully woken up to the point where reality no longer seemed hazy and fantastic….Indeed, she was still remembering something in her dream about running through a meadow towards a trident from her favorite café holding Bonta-kun's hand, until Sousuke showed up and, having determined that Bonta-kun represented a credible threat, lobbed a grenade at him…

Kaname hated it when that happened.

She rolled out of her bed and crawled on all fours towards the mysterious rhythmic thumping sound in her living room.

Opening the door (with great difficulty, having grabbed at and missed the handle two times before successfully accomplishing the feat), she saw Sousuke on the other side doing a number of sit-ups.

Kaname's hair stuck up at chaotic angles and her pajama top was skewed oddly to one side…this was in addition to the fact that she was now seated on the floor, having not yet recovered her full range of mobile skills or mental capacity.

She simply sat gazing blankly at the hapless sergeant in front of her.

"Sousuke…"

Confused, he pulled himself up to a sitting position and asked cautiously, "Chidori?"

She rubbed her eyes and then said, "I told you not to throw grenades at Bonta-kun."

He blinked several times. He had certainly _not _done that. He wisely did not mention this fact and instead responded very seriously, "I will take that under advisement, Chidori. However, as I have repeatedly stated, I will do whatever is necessary to carry out my mission. If Bonta-kun does come to present a significant threat to your safety- "

He continued on, but unfortunately, the hated word "mission" acted better than any alarm clock in bringing Kaname out of her stupor.

As if seeing him for the first time she said, "Sousuke?"

All the more confused by her actions, Sousuke involuntary stiffened.

Suddenly her voice turned very sweet.

"What are you doing out of bed, at _this_ hour?"

He began sweating. She had given him orders the previous evening to remain in bed.

He had been derelict in his duties.

"Uh…"

"Sousuke!"

In lieu of another answer another, "Uhh…" came out.

"**Sousuke!"**

Giving into his knee jerk reaction, he straightened up and said, "I was doing my morning conditioning as is my normal routine, ma'am!"

Kaname sighed. It was far too early to be angry with him.

"Sousuke…"

"Yes, Chidori?" He still had that militaristic tone of voice. It annoyed her, but that wasn't her foremost concern.

Unexpectedly, she put her hand on his forehead again. He still felt a bit warm.

She stood up and walked into her kitchen, opening a cabin and extracting a bottle of pills. Taking two and filling a glass of water, she walked back over to him.

She handed both to him, and then sat down directly opposite him, looking earnestly into his eyes.

Quietly, she put a hand to his forehead. He was still a bit warm.

"Sousuke," her voice was more than a little exasperated, "You're still sick and you need to stay in bed."

Sousuke dropped his eyes to his lap, suddenly.

"Chidori, I don't wish to cause more trouble for you. I have realized that my behavior has been an inconvenience to you, and I would like to show my sincerest thanks for taking charge of my care in my less than optimal physical state, especially considering that you do not awake until many hours after I do, at which time, you are still not in possession of your normal faculties. I feel that because I have not, this morning, given you ample time to awake at your normal time, I have become quite a nuisance."

At the first part of his speech she had begun to smile…however, that smile faded when he launched into the second part. Looking up, he could clearly see that his words did not have the desired impact.

"Chidori…?"

"Sousuke…it…is…five…in…the…morning…go…to…sleep…again!"

Each word came out from between clenched teeth, and she was quickly loosing the battle not to show him that she as indeed in full control of her "faculties" with her halisen.

However, Sousuke could see his imminent peril, and wisely decided that the best course of action would be to do what she said.

He quickly retreated back to the couch.

Sighing she stood up.

"Chidori," he said, when he had complied and she was at what he considered to be a safe distance, "I might also suggest that you fix your sleeping apparel, I believe it is no longer serving the purpose you intend it to."

Looking down, she realized that he shirt was askew and revealed much more than she had intended. Her face glowed a shade of red that would have made a tomato jealous.

It was really, entirely too early in the morning for this.

**------------------------------------------**

Colleen moved her hand ever so slightly. There was a tug at her wrist that restrained her movement.

Next, she attempted to move her feet. After an incredibly short distance there was a tug.

They had strapped her down to her bed and moved her into a dark room. She wasn't sure if they were protecting her or themselves.

One could never tell with such organizations.

She was quite frankly surprised that was all they had done with her after her initial _greeting_.

She _was_ a valuable commodity after all. Such behavior was to be expected.

At one end there was a broad mirror, and alongside the side of the bed there was a sturdy, practical plastic chair.

Inwardly, she chuckled, a dark sound that reverberated within her.

She was no stranger to this place. Even if they had moved the rather imposing table to make it seem…_friendlier_…perhaps that wasn't the word…it was still a standard interrogation room.

She had not been mistaken. These people meant to use her in the same manner as the rest.

She stared up at the ceiling.

At the very least, she would do this on as many of her own terms as she was capable of. Even if she was strapped down to the bed she was not as powerless as they thought.

She had taken them down once.

It was no small matter to do so again.

If she could not escape as she wished, she would fight.

Just as before.

Maybe she could escape payment for her actions this time.

The old feeling was reborn within her then.

No longer would she be shoved into a corner. No longer would someone dictate what terms she would operate on. No longer would she merely an exploited brain.

She would resist. When they pushed her, she would push back.

That same dark laugh spilled forth again.

These people lacked the weaponry to force her into anything against her will.

Colleen knew that she had nothing to lose anymore; she had already lost everything possible.

Looking straight at the supposed mirror, which she knew was actually a window to an outside room, she said quietly and clearly, "I am ready for you now."

**------------------------------------------**

At her usual position beside Kalinin, Tessa Testarossa observed as the interrogation of Colleen Riley began.

Kalinin himself was his usual passive self, merely staring in quiet concentration into the room.

The Chief Interrogator, a young Second Lieutenant usually stationed on Merida Island, had just stepped in…at the girl's own insistence. The other girl was incredibly aware of her position. It perturbed Tessa more than a little bit.

The first words out of the Interrogator's subject's mouth were an enigmatic apology.

"I'm sorry that I am unable to bow to you," she paused, tugging a bit dramatically at her restraints, "I understand that it is customary to bow to one's conquerors."

Beside her, even Kalinin sighed.

They both knew that this would be a difficult session.

To be perfectly honest, Tessa was uncomfortable with interrogating the girl at all. Although the other girl's attack had shaken her, she still could not help but feel a deep sympathy for her situation.

Having faced something like that…could anyone have held up any better?

Now, it was only a matter of determining exactly _what_ had happened and preventing it from occurring again.

To anyone.

Kalinin and Mardukas had assured her that with such an uncooperative target a _gentle_ interrogation was the only way possible to extract the information necessary from the girl.

Tessa herself knew that she was liable to be a veritable treasure trove of inside information on Amalgam itself, but to only use of her for that…they were really no better than Amalgam. The thought disturbed her.

More, she would be considered to be incredibly valuable because she was Whispered.

Inwardly, she sighed, she had spoken with Admiral Borda unofficially, merely asking for advice about the situation.

He had explained that it would be of great benefit to Mithril itself if they were able to add whatever Black Technology the girl could provide to their arsenal. High Command later followed with orders detailing that the crew of the TDD-1 should do everything within its power to secure this aim.

…in the end, being Whispered was still damning that girl and Tessa was well aware of this. All that she could do was to see her treated as well as was possible with the power she possessed.

And even all that had transpired between the two in their short and violent introduction did not manage to dislodge her feeling of sympathy.

_This is not a time to allow my mind to wander_, she chided herself, directing her attention back to the interrogation.

It was certainly not going well.

The girl was staring down the Interrogator with a hardened look absent in most of the actual criminals that Tessa had seen interrogated.

Vincent Blueno certainly had not had her stubborn arrogance and dignity.

"Who were the heads of the organization who captured you?" The Interrogator was saying, leaning over his subject in a menacing manner.

"Not anyone you are capable of doing anything about."

She pursed her lips in a defiant manner, meeting the man with a sharp, calm stare.

The man leaned farther forward, his voice deepening.

"Look, Ms. Riley. There is an easy way we can do this and a very hard way."

She met his glare and gave a small "hmph!" of disdain, "You strap me down here, interrogate me like a criminal, and for all intents and purposes attempt to take away any remainder of my dignity…looks like you've chosen the hard way for me. How is your organization any better? Answer me that."

She sighed and returned the Interrogator's level gaze.

"Mr. Kalinin," asked Tessa quietly, "Is there any way we can undo her restraints? She may be more willing to help us then…"

Kalinin gave her a searching look. "If you wish, Captain. However you yourself have seen what she is capable of."

"Please, Mr. Kalinin."

He walked into the room and spoke to the guard, who in turn spoke to the Chief Interrogator.

The restraints were removed. She sat up haltingly, a shadow of pain crossing over her face.

"I made a mistake last time. I won't hurt you very much this time, Sir." She responded, "Although, I do not believe that I can exhort a similar promise from you. At this time, I do not wish to give information to _you_, _you_ have nothing to offer me."

"This is not a bargaining process." The Interrogator was fast moving to a precarious position. He had no means to control her.

Tessa twirled her braid. This was going even worse than she had expected it to.

Colleen Riley, however, was not finished with her impromptu lecture.

"I am aware. _You _have nothing to bargain with. You want to break my fingers to get me to talk? I can do so on my own and save you the trouble, if you like. Perhaps you'll simply threaten my life…well, as you can ask your commanding officers, _I_ have little regard for that. Threaten my family, friends, relations?"

Her face became dark.

"Well, let's just say that it is nothing I have not experienced."

Tessa could not discern the meaning of this statement. Directly following the rescue operation the Intelligence Department had attempted to find her family. She had only heard that her previous guardians were now deceased and that they were trying to establish other contacts.

"Very well," said the Interrogator in a jeering manner, "What is it someone like _you_ wants?"

She smiled mirthlessly.

"First of all, you have something of mine I wish to have returned."

They had anticipated this. The Interrogator held up the vial that contained the tear-shaped earring. A flash of something akin to hope coursed through her eyes.

Tessa had approved this herself, knowing that, whatever it contained, the earring was itself, Black Technology. If nothing else, it might serve as a key to unlocking the mystery of Colleen Riley….but conditionally.

"We are willing to return it to you," said the interrogator in the same hard voice, "on the condition that you display what is on it to us."

"Fine."

There was no battle on the point. This made Tessa feel a bit uneasy because, from what she had seen of the other Whispered girl thus far, it was highly uncharacteristic.

A brief scuffle took place as a table and computer unit were brought in and set before her. She plugged the device into the data port in the same manner as she herself had done before. Knowing that this might take place, a small monitor had been hooked up at an angle capable of showing the computer screen's contents.

The initial screen with its red, white, and grey names was brought up again. Knowing that it would appear, Tessa concentrated on the list of names, noting as many as possible. Additionally, she found that Colleen's own name had changed from red to grey.

The line "AUTHORIZATION CODE?" scrolled across.

The girl did not so much as touch the keyboard. Instead, she intoned:

Los ríos están llenos de sangre,

Y entre el cielo y la tierra hay nubes de gris.

No sé, no sé, el destino de esas personas debajo aquel cielo.

Y las de blanco, gracias, gracias por eterno,

Están lejos de ese mundo espantoso

En los manos de alguien quien las ofrece una caricia amable.#

Tessa was stunned for a minute, lost in the rhythm of the foreign words. She had not understood more than a few words of the strange code. However, the monitor immediately flared to life with a rather disturbing image…

There was a rather _risquély_ dressed woman with long, sleek brown hair that barely covered her important parts and left very little to the imagination.

She looked from the monitor to the window.

Colleen herself seemed to be surprised by this change of events. Indeed, she did something that was altogether bizarre for the situation she was in…she giggled.

Regaining her composure, she looked back at the interrogator.

"I hope you enjoyed that," she said a bit impishly, "but it seems as if your people tried to gain access to my little treasure box already. It also seems that it uploaded and destroyed the source of information, as it was supposed to."

A number of similar pictures flashed by in quick succession, in addition to some shots of Japanese idols.

"Is that all your device is good for?" He asked incredulously. This was not his day, Tessa decided. She made a note to send a commendation with him to the base for his troubles.

…She would also reprimand Kurz for putting less that appropriate materials onto laptops furnished by Mithril.

In response to the Interrogator, she had merely smiled.

Colleen turned to the keyboard, imputing commands with a fluid grace of practice and instinct.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of screens had drifted passed, too fast for the eye to comprehend. Thousands of diagrams, schematics, calculations, documents…

"As for the rest of the information, I have no need to share it with _you_."

The man looked perturbed. Tessa had no doubt that he wished that he would simply be able to resort to normal interrogation methods with her.

"I have one condition. I will answer most, if not all of your questions if you do one last thing..."

"What."

He did not bother to hide his exasperation. By now everyone present knew that the exercise had become little more than a farce.

"I want to speak with the pilot of the white A.S., that Kashim."

Tessa was shocked; Kalinin also had a look of surprise on his usually placid face.

The Interrogator leaned back in his chair and sighed. He had done everything he could to get information out of her that had been authorized.

"Mr. Kalinin, it seems she will speak with only Sergeant Sagara."

Kalinin gave a nod. It was the only thing that one could do in this increasingly ridiculous situation.

**------------------------------------------**

Kaname fell back into her bed, exhausted. Realizing from the morning's incident that it would be nearly impossible for Sousuke to keep her place intact and take care of himself, she had simply skipped school altogether.

The next day she would have to be prepared to counter rumors of both her _and _Sousuke being absent on the same day.

She sighed deeply.

Despite all of this, the day had been eventful, like any day with Sousuke was.

In the afternoon she had pronounced his physical condition to be good enough for a short trip to the supermarket to buy supplies for dinner.

He had wanted rolls and MRE's, but she had, of course, refused to allow such otaku-ness.

The casualties for the day were fairly average, as far as days with Sousuke went.

However, he _did_ somehow mistake a 90-year-old woman who had paused to ask them for directions for a ringleader of an obscure terrorist group…

Then there were also those boys from the Rugby team who had complimented her a little too adamantly on her figure…

They had a rather unfortunate close-encounter of the concrete sidewalk kind…

In all, it was a fairly standard day in the lives of Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori.

Kaname smiled, remembering the day. They had returned to her apartment (at her insistence he would spend another night, as she told him she wanted to make sure he was completely alright) where she had made both of them dinner.

Feeling in a particularly generous mood, she allowed him to watch _Apocalypse Now_, but he had poked holes in many of the strategies and depictions of warfare within the movie, until she had forced him to stop with a smack from her halisen.

All the otaku behavior had left Kaname feeling drained. There was, however, a strange satisfaction and happiness that came from being with Sousuke.

Life always was something to be explored, something that changed at a moment's notice, never the least bit dull.

Before turning out the light, she opened the drawer of her bedside table, taking out a small blue stone. For one more night Sousuke would sleep in her living room under her care.

He was a lot like the piece of lapis lazuli, a little intense and rough around the edges.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing, however. She was confused for a moment because it was not her normal ringtone…

Then realization slowly dawned on her. She walked over to the small mountain of weapons and picked the hated object up. She _knew_ what a phone call meant at this time of night…another hastily scrawled note slipped under her door. There was a noise of stirring within the living room; no doubt Sousuke had heard it as well.

Opening the phone she, with a great air of confidence said, "Angel here."

Surprisingly, it was Tessa on the other end.

"K-k-k-kaname! Where is Sousuke!"

It was a perfect opportunity. So perfect, in fact, that there was no way that Kaname could possibly pass it up.

"Well, he's gone to sleep…but I just need to go to the other room to wake him up," she twirled a piece of hair, "You see, I just stepped out to answer the phone and assure there were no further _distractions_."

The indignance was quite evident in Tessa's voice.

"Well, I had no idea you were _that_ kind of woman. But nonetheless I will need to speak with Sergeant Sagara."

_Sergeant Sagara_, K.O., Kaname had won round one. But "that kind of woman?" That set her off immediately to near nuclear mode. She was definitely not allowing Tessa to leave uncrushed.

"You know, Tessa, I don't think that it will be possible to get a hold of him right now. He's really quite tired."

She wasn't lying, really, more like…misdirecting.

There was a note of mounting alarm in Tessa's voice.

"Well, no matter how _tired_ he is, I will not allow someone like _you_ to detain him from his work!"

Kaname sputtered, "D-d-d-detain! You're the one always calling him for idiotic missions and sending him back to me _ill_ to take care of! Do you care that little for him?"

"This is not a matter of my own feelings!" the petite captain practically screamed, "Those missions are necessary to protect others. Now, _Ms._ Chidori, I need to speak to Sergeant Sagara about a matter of great importance."

As Tessa spoke those last words, Kaname pictured her ego blowing up like a helium balloon. She was the big-shot captain with all her orders…ha!

Then she pictured herself…with a pin…

"If you're forcing him to go on some other inane mission, I'm coming along as well to make sure your neglect doesn't get him killed!"

By now, Tessa was really incensed.

"_Neglect? **Neglect**_? Fine! You're welcome to come! I'll show you and that fan neglect!"

At that moment, Kaname heard another urgent voice coming in from the other line. Her argument with Tessa was cut short.

**------------------------------------------**

Both Colleen and the Interrogator could hear the unusual conversation taking place outside of the room.

The heated "discussion" had become that loud.

"I do not believe it will be possible to guarantee that your request will be granted," the Interrogator was saying.

Colleen yawned. She was tired of this game.

"Aren't you just a military dog," an angelic smile lit her face.

The interrogator leered, but didn't respond to her goading, salvaging every last shred of his pride possible.

Whoever was fated to be his next subject would certainly have a difficult time…

She laid her head upon her hands, a serene look upon her features. How silly these people were, thinking she was powerless.

"Yes, you're nothing but the dog of the military," she smiled maliciously.

She stuck out a finger directly at the Interrogator in the shape of a gun.

She pantomimed firing it.

"Roll over, Rover."

The Chief Interrogator just stared.

**------------------------------------------**

It had taken Mao quite some time to get Tessa's attention, and finally, she had resorted to simply grabbing the phone from her hand.

"Captain, there is an urgent situation at Merida Island. We need Sergeant Sagara's assistance at once. _Here. Now._"

She explained, quickly, leaving a horrified expression on Tessa's face.

She had no time to argue with Kaname.

The girl within the interrogation room was looking out at her, the portrait of calmness.

She smiled.

**------------------------------------------**

Sousuke, hearing his own phone ring followed by Kaname's voice _answering_ was left in a moment of indecision.

He stood directly outside her door. He was unsure as to protocol…

On one hand, he had a duty to answer the phone, as it most likely presented a crucial mission.

However, on the other hand, Chidori had directly commanded him that it was explicitly against protocol to enter her room. Such an action would inevitably result in incredible bodily injury.

So, in his moment of inner turmoil, all he was capable of doing was standing at the door and listening to a one-sided, escalating conversation.

Inexplicably, the conversation suddenly fell off in intensity.

After a minute, the door opened.

Kaname thrust the phone into her hand, her face pale.

On the other end, Tessa's voice shook noticeably.

"Sagara, meet at point alpha in a half an hour. This is a non-negotiable, priority situation. Please."

**------------------------------------------**

# Yes, this is Spanish, just in case you are wondering. At this time I do not intend to translate it (but if I made grammar mistakes, by all means, let me know!), as it will be an element in the fic in a later chapter…however, if you can't wait that long and want to try to piece the plot together by yourself, drop me a note in a review or PM me or something…

AN: Hello all my readers! _Intrepid authoress's own words echo back to her_. Just out of curiosity, are any of you following this? Do you like it? Hate it? Wish it had more action / romance / humor? Please, please, please, give me some feedback! This is kinda the equivalent of pathetic groveling….sadness…

Anyways, sorry for the longer update time, however, from now on, it will be more at this speed…mostly because I am a full-time student…but believe me, I would rather be writing this than writing 10 page essays…

Lastly, I would like to give a big thanks to both Hikagi and Hououza again for their support and kind reviews. I just want you both to know it's greatly appreciated!


	5. The Sword of Damocles

Thank you Hououza, full-metal-sousuke, and mangadude for your feedback! I just want you all to know that I appreciate it!

As another warning there are **massive spoilers** for both _The End of Day By Day_ novels and Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. You have been warned. Again.

Chapter 5 – The Sword of Damocles

"Is Kashim coming?"

The Interrogator had no idea as to what was going on outside of the room. There was a loud clanging of sudden activity and raised voices shouting orders.

The entire session was an unmitigated disaster.

Indeed, they seemed to be solidly planted in the midst of an unmitigated disaster.

There was a bright look in Colleen's eyes that was strangely juxtaposed against her calm smile.

At that moment Tessa burst into the room.

With a wave of her hand the Interrogator was dismissed. She walked straight up to the other girl and stuck her hand out.

"Return it, now." There was a glint of steel in her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The earring. Stop this. No one deserves the kind of life you've had, but it doesn't give you the right to act like this."

Colleen met her gaze evenly.

"It seems you catch on much faster than everyone else, but you don't want to take it back by force. Your scientists at their base are facing down three Arastols right now. I am the only one here who can rescind that order. It seemed you needed motivation to pursue my request."

Tessa could feel her face blanch.

"You're no better than the people who kidnapped you in the first place."

"You don't know that."

"You're threatening innocent, unarmed people with death. That's monstrous."

There was a silence that hung between the two girls. It was heavy, almost suffocating. Colleen did not speak; she looked down at her lap.

"It is what I am forced to do to be treated as a human." Tessa could feel the air ripple around her. The simple sentence wasn't said out loud. It was said through a Whispered resonance.

Tessa took an involuntary step back. It was a different voice, one that could hide nothing through putting on a mask and smiling.

It had been filled with pain. It was the voice of a lost child speaking as an adult.

Tessa stared, not being able to act.

The girl, her gaze still even, still hidden behind a carefully controlled façade, said with emphasis, "I am not a murderer."

"Stop it. I've given the order. He'll come."

She did not respond. Instead, she seemingly materialized the earring out of nowhere.

She dexterously plugged it in, an interface came up. A preset list of commands came up.

In that moment, Tessa knew that she had anticipated having to do this.

"Rover," she said, clearly, "Lie down."

Colleen put the earring in the vial and put it on the table.

She had used her trump card. But now someone would hear her story.

Tessa took the vial and left without another word between them.

------------------------------

The incident with the Astarols during the rescue mission was suddenly much clearer to Tessa.

She understood that, somehow, she had gained control over them at that time.

That time she had saved many of Mithril's own troops.

This time she had threatened the lives of those same individuals.

Mao had explained the situation with the Arastols at Merida Island to her, making her take her mind off the squabble Kaname and she had been having. She said that they had fenced in the group of researchers examining them, not actually shooting, but their A.I. units had said two words.

"Bring Kashim."

All of the connections seemed to make sense to Tessa at once.

_It is what I am forced to do to be treated as a human._

Tessa did not know what to do with that thought. She set her mind to matters that she might possibly figure out.

For instance, that there was no mistaking the connection between Colleen Riley and those machines.

Her own brother's machines…

But, _what did it mean?_

------------------------------

Kaname felt a bit guilty for having forced her way into the venture.

Originally, she had rationalized that Tessa had said (even though she had for all intents and purposes goaded it out of the petite Captain) that it was all right for her to come.

Well, not _all right_, but she tried to tell herself that she had been invited.

Sousuke, not having time to argue with her, had not been able to do anything about it.

Kaname had simply boarded the jet with him. He was not, however, pleased.

Indeed, he felt as if it was time to put his foot down.

"Chidori," he was not looking at her, "You should be more aware of your safety."

Out of a well-ingrained reflex she responded, "Like you should talk idiot, going off at stupid Tessa's whim without so much as a thought to your _own_ health! Now you're just going to tell me something about it just being about following orders!"

Sousuke was silent for a moment. Inwardly, Kaname began berating her own stubborn self. Her words did not carry the sentiment she had hoped.

What she had wanted to say was that she was worried about him.

She had come to make sure he would be okay.

She had come to prove that _she_ could protect _him_ just as well as he could…only in a different way.

In a gesture of frustration she hit herself on the head because she had not managed to _say_ any of those things.

Sousuke must have misinterpreted that same gesture as a gesture of frustration with him.

Finally he responded.

"Sorry Chidori, it could not be helped."

He unstrapped himself from the seat and went to change into his fatigues leaving Kaname to herself.

When he was gone she let out a frustrated sigh, clenching her fists. Unsure of what to make of this, the other personnel in the helicopter merely raised their eyebrows.

They did not do anything else. They had _heard_ stories about what happened to Sergeant Sagara during his missions. The men were sufficiently aware of enough tactical knowledge not to tempt faith with the girl high command had (and rather erroneously from what they had heard) named Angel.

Kaname sighed.

She had heard Mao describe the situation to Tessa - people's lives were at stake and once again only Sousuke could save them.

_Only_ Sousuke.

Again.

This time she knew for certain it couldn't be helped. She knew that no one could ask him to leave those people in harm's way.

It was out of his control. Entirely.

But she, being the way she was, had once again taken it out on Sousuke.

He returned, a folder in his hands that apparently pertained to his mission. Reading the numerous leaflets of paper with a great degree of concentration, he did not look up.

She sighed again.

It wasn't him who was the idiot, at that moment she thought herself to be the biggest idiot of them all.

------------------------------

Sousuke, seeing that Kaname was safely entrusted to Mao, had immediately reported to Tessa as ordered.

She had been waiting for him just outside one of the TDD-1's interrogation rooms. Inside of it was the Whispered girl whom they had rescued.

He stopped in front of Tessa, snapping a crisp salute off. She gave a quiet "at ease" command.

"Sergeant, your task is simply to get as much information from the target as possible while securing her trust. That is all."

Sousuke nodded and stepped into the room.

The girl looked up at him briefly.

Her short, greasy hair was plastered to her head and there were dark circles under her eyes.

She had an incredibly intense and penetrating stare.

Chidori and her, although both Whispered, were nothing alike. Sousuke's cursory reconnaissance of this girl showed her to be much more serious than Kaname.

Additionally, he hoped Kaname would never be inclined to use heavy weaponry to get her way as this girl had.

That thought disturbed him more than a bit, however. He brushed it aside.

"You've come."

Sousuke nodded. "I was ordered to come in order to secure the safety of our personnel."

There was a cold note in his voice. As a child in Afghanistan he had taken many lives in his raids with the Majahideen. But he would have drawn the line at innocent, unarmed people. The girl across from him had crossed a line.

"That doesn't amount to much to me. I've seen what you do to your informers in order to get around paying them."

Sousuke's eyes narrowed. He did not know what she was talking about.

She seemingly examined his face for a moment.

"You don't know?"

"Negative. I do not even know why particularly my presence is required here."

The enemy's face remained neutral.

"I went through a lot of effort to save myself from that hell. It took a very long time to find a security guard greedy enough to make a bid to one of Amalgam's rivals. So, I put myself up on the auction block. However, it was much easier for you to shoot him than it was to pay your bills…Guess it was more tactically sound that way."

Sousuke nodded, missing her sarcasm.

"Affirmative. You are quite correct in your tactical analysis of the situation. The man was a potential threat to the security of the organization due to his potential to disseminate classified information. If there had been a danger of the informer playing both sides, then it would be in Mithril's best interests to neutralize the threat, although I was not aware of a direct order to do so."

The girl chuckled. At this point, Kaname would have begun smacking him with her fan after having mistaken his thorough explanation for "otaku behavior."

This girl's reaction was a bit unnerving.

"Least you're blunt. That's refreshing."

He did not know how to take this. In fact, he would much rather merely have taken out his combat knife and interrogated her in a way proper to his field…this felt more like the interview assignment that Kagurazaka-sensei had ordered that he perform.

He had slowly discovered that asking people's food, color, and movie preferences in this manner was effective in getting answers but, as Kaname rather forcibly explained, not completely aligned with the missions overall objectives of developing friendly relations.

It _had_ been a highly effective method, however.

"Interviews" like this were outside of the parameters a Specialist dealt with.

Sousuke had no idea why he was even there. This would require careful tactical planning. The girl was an unknown threat.

She had already expressed a liking for his "bluntness," so he would continue to act in a similar matter.

"Why did you request my presence here?"

He could see her frown. Perhaps she was like Kaname in that she only selectively liked certain of his traits. Perhaps women were like that.

"I have two reasons," her voice became low and serious, "the first being that a man called Gauron hated you. Leonard Testarossa also hated you….it's like that old saying: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Additionally, you seem less likely to have political motivations or biases."

Gauron.

Leonard Testarossa.

He could feel a feeling of hatred well up within him. He noticed an underlying rage in her as well, a feral rage, like a man too long left alone in the wilderness in Afghanistan.

"You hate them too."

It was a statement. Sousuke tried to bring himself under control. He shouldn't show weaknesses in a situation like this.

"How were you related to those men?" There was still a bit of an edge on his voice.

"Gauron both sold my specialty and worked as what Leonard termed my "motivator." And by "motivator" I mean, when I resisted he found inventive means of showing me the error of my ways."

Sousuke knew perfectly well what _that_ might mean having been a witness of Gauron's cruelty more than once.

She continued, looking down at the floor.

"Mithril does not necessarily protect that family of the Whispered. They didn't in my case…so when I resisted and programmed small bits of sabotage only I was capable of fixing into the Black Technology…my father unfortunately suffered a fatal car crash…A complete _accident_. Gauron brought me pictures for my enjoyment. When my mother died suddenly of a heart attack, he lamented about how grief finally must have overcome her…or perhaps poison. He told me they got my brother too. I don't know what happened to him though. I just don't know."

Colleen did not cry; there was merely a blunted edge to her voice.

Sousuke's gaze dropped to the floor. Certainly he felt sorry for this girl, but his thoughts kept going to Kaname. He needed to maintain his focus.

He was now all the more aware of the price of failure.

The girl suddenly looked straight at him, dropping her voice.

"I know you have some sort of connection to a Whispered. Gauron said she was ruining you. Be careful. Someone betrayed me, your job may be harder than it appears."

Sousuke was fighting to control himself still, fighting to suppress memories of Hong Kong and thoughts of Kaname being dead.

But he still distrusted this girl. She could be an elaborate actress manipulating him.

Questions still remained unanswered.

"What about Leonard?"

"That is the second part of why I wanted to speak with you. He hates you because you foil his plans. You beat my dear little monsters."

"Your monsters?"

"My speciality…the Arastol. Leonard takes credit for them, but he does not have the specialization necessary to miniaturize the AS mechanisms. He merely takes credit for them to keep the fact that Amalgam has control of other Whispereds secret. It gratifies his ego because he cannot get his hands on some girl he met on a roof a few months ago."

Unbidden, his eyes widened, not at the revelations about the girl's Whispered capabilities, but at the last sentence.

_Some girl he met on a roof._

It sounded like Kaname's story of what had happened to her during his brief reassignment.

"What did he say about the girl on the roof?"

Colleen looked confused that he had latched onto that small bit of bitterness.

She blinked a couple of times before responding.

"He came back bragging about how he had kissed some girl on a rooftop when he was testing out the Arastols for the first time…I don't know anything more about it…."

There was a feeling of urgency within Sousuke.

So far, with the notable exception of Leonard's presence, it lined up with Kaname's story.

Why would Kaname hide that from him?

Maybe the girl was simply mistaken. Maybe she really was manipulating him as Gauron had tried to manipulate him…but she seemed surprised her had even asked about it. In his

"Are you sure that is all you know?"

Damn, he was losing control of himself. Acting on instinct.

In a very soft tone of voice she said, "I do know more…I was lying to you, but I can see it matters…the girl was a Whispered, too."

It must be Kaname.

Why hadn't she told him?

_Why?_

The girl rose shakily, shocking Sousuke out of his own mind. She strode over to the mirror, putting her hand to the glass.

Sousuke knew that Tessa and Kalinin would be observing her from out there.

"It seems you care. At least about her."

Sousuke did not confirm or deny anything. He merely remained watching her cautiously, his trained senses more than a little muddled by irrelevant emotion.

But Kaname never left his mind. He simply needed to finish this.

"What is it that you want?"

This girl did not act in accordance with any tactics. Again, she did not immediately respond.

There was a long silence between her where she simply remained turned to the mirror.

"Have you ever heard of the Sword of Damocles?" she asked suddenly.

"Negative."

This girl definitely took advantage of the element of surprise as much as she was capable of doing so.

"King Dionysus had a servant, Damocles, that constantly complained about the way in which he was ruling his country. He decided he would then exchange his position with Damocles for a day, so that he would understand it from his prospective. As he sat in the palace he noticed a sword dangling from the ceiling above him, only secured by horsehair. It's no wonder that Damocles was not comfortable in the King's place the entire day."

She turned around to face him.

"When Dionysus returned, Damocles asked him about the sword. He responded, 'That is what I face everyday. I may lose my life at any moment if I take one wrong step.' …Let's just say, Damocles complained no more."

"I do not really understand," said Sousuke at a length.

"We Whispered have the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads everyday. You are responsible for my continued presence within this world, so I hold you partially responsible for keeping that sword from falling down on me. So I will make your organization a deal. Take me out from under it a while, even if I have to pretend, and I will work for you."

There was a brightness in Colleen's eyes. Her story had not mitigated his suspicions, but her request was not a reasonable one.

Kaname had spoken of being really free once…free from Mithril's eye, from Amalgam's eye, from Wraith's eye…This girl was only asking for an illusion of that.

A small voice in that back of his mind, however, reminded him that Kaname had _not_ told him about ever encountering Leonard Testarossa...did she want to be free of him as well, despite her confessions of trust?

That needed to wait, however, until he finished the mission at hand.

He mentioned to the girl that he would do what was in his power and consult his superiors. She merely nodded.

He left, wondering how he should face Kaname.

As he left, however, he heard the barest whisper of "Thank You."

------------------------------

She had done the best she could do.

Colleen had told her story. She had asked what she could of them.

Her fate was once again out of her own hands.

------------------------------

Tessa had debriefed him regarding the interview and sent the girl off to whoever was to be her bodyguard.

Sousuke did not feel up to seeing Kaname at the moment, so he had gone to the one place he could think to go.

The cockpit of the ARX-7 Arbalest.

As he did so, he could not help but feel a bit ridiculous that he was taking his problems to a mechanical nuisance that merely affected human talk.

"Check. Confirming Sergeant Sagara. It seems it is you."

The AI's voice held an amusement he did not feel.

"Shut up." It was half hearted.

"It does not appear you are facing a combat situation. Would I guess this is what you call 'whim'?"

"Is there another reason for waking up such an idiotic piece of machinery?" he said was a great deal of irritation.

"Perhaps you are having difficulties with you love life."

Al's sudden interjection surprised him. Really, where did this machine learn such nonsense? He asked it just such a question.

"The chief mechanic, Sergeant. He thinks it important that I have knowledge of such things."

Sousuke made a derisive noise.

"What would you do about my 'love life'?"

He did not expect a sensible answer.

"This is outside of my programming parameters, Sergeant. You will have to educate me further as such events come up."

Sousuke sighed. This was merely avoiding the issue entirely.

He had told Tessa exactly how he felt about Kaname. However, he would rather run through an entire regiment of Arastols with a single round of ammunition than divulge such information to Kaname herself.

Particularly now.

He had no knowledge of these things.

But Kaname had met Leonard.

She had _kissed_ Leonard.

Those thoughts were outside of his parameters entirely.

------------------------------

Kurz waited in Colleen Riley's newly assigned quarters.

The Whispered girl was currently taking a shower and so he did not see much of a point to his being there, but Tessa was insistent.

Kurz Weber did not disappoint Tessa.

She had confided in him that he simply did not want her to be left alone. The ghost of Bunny Morauta still very much haunted her.

Lieutenant Santos was currently supervising her, although he had also offered to take this duty.

Geez, did women take long showers!

It wasn't at if he had signed up for this duty either. He had heard that this girl was…something close to the Devil.

At that moment, the shower turned off.

Santos walked out and waited at the door.

She laughed a bit.

"I never thought the SRT would be commissioned to be babysitters."

Kurz made a whistling noise.

"They don't pay me enough for this!"

At that moment the bathroom's door opened and out walked the girl. Her short hair had lost its curly resilience and was dripping, tucked behind her ears. She had on a towel, tightly wrapped around her.

She stopped and stared intently at him for a moment.

The towel slipped a bit lower.

_Perhaps, _he thought, _this won't be so bad at all…_

After a moment she smiled at him, and began to slowly walk toward him, letting the towel slip down a little further.

Santos looked a little shocked at the brazen display.

She marched right up to him, smiling and leaned close to his ear.

Kurz was thanking Clouzot for once for recommending him to such an assignment.

Colleen whispered one word.

"Pervert."

Suddenly, Kurz felt a sharp pain in his groin.

She strolled behind him, grabbing the robe hanging there and flinging the wet towel back on his head.

Lieutenant Santos covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing.

Kurz _definitely _wasn't paid enough for this at all.

That girl _was_ the Devil!

------------------------------

It had been a long day, Tessa decided.

However, she was unable to so much as slouch in her chair or even lower her head to the nine holographic images that represented the Mithril high command before her. Doing so would be considered a sign of weakness.

She could not afford that today.

It was time to begin with the last matter of the day's agenda.

"Lieutenant Yamazaki."

A Japanese woman in her mid-thirties, hair done up in a sedate clip, stepped forward, sat down at the table, and opened a dossier in front of her.

Sir Mallory, monocle in hand, stated brusquely, "Please state your name and rank."

Opening up the file before her and pushing her glasses farther up her nose she stated, "Fumie Yamazaki, First Lieutenant and personnel psychologist aboard the _Tuatha Da Daanan_-1."

Several of the men nodded.

"What is your professional opinion of the condition of the Whispered, Ms. Colleen Riley?"

This was Dr. Painrose, the head of the Research branch.

"At the moment, from the brain scans we took during Ms. Riley's convalescence, she, quite predictably, has a visible degree of mental trauma and a general degree of mental fatigue. Additionally, she seems to suffer from an extreme state of depression due to the traumatic events during her captivity. These, in combination, have no doubt manifested themselves in Ms. Riley's erratic and violent behavior."

"Understandably," quipped Malory. It was difficult to tell if he was sarcastic or not.

"But what is her future prognosis?" asked Dr. Painrose, seeming leaning farther over the table in interest.

The possibility of developing Mithril's own Arastol-type weapon had piqued his interest considerably earlier in the meaning, although he lamented the fact that the Lambda Driver Specialist had still not been found.

"In going over the data that has been collected from other Whispered individuals, as well as Ms. Riley herself prior to her activity, it is my opinion that should this mental fatigue continue unchecked, she would be rendered useless for any practical purposes of research. Additionally, there is a high probability that permanent mental stability would result."

"She would also most likely lose a sense of herself altogether," said Tessa, a quiet intensity in her voice.

The nine somber men surrounding her nodded gravely.

"Your recommendation, Lieutenant Yamazaki?"

She paused, again pushing her glasses up on her nose in, perhaps, a nervous gesture.

"Protecting Mithril's interests is in this case aligned with the girl's request to Sergeant Sagara…I would recommend a situation in which she has the allusion of autonomy and safety in a normal, constant situation. Additionally, in this location she should not use her Whispered power unless absolutely necessary."

"Thank you," General Amitt, the President of the Intelligence Branch, quipped curtly. "We will take your findings and recommendations into account, Lieutenant Yamazaki."

She stood and saluted the assembled heads of Mithril crisply and then, dismissed by Tessa, left the gathering.

"So, what shall we do now with the volatile Ms.Riley?"

A contemplative silence followed in the wake of Admiral Borda's question.

"Amalgam will not give her up lightly. We need to place her somewhere in which she will be well protected."

"God be praised that she wasn't the Lambda Driver specialist."

This was one of the Research Branch's heads of staff. There was a general murmur of assent.

"She'll still be useful," a young man, an aide of Amitt's, said.

"We should protect her to the best of our abilities despite the nature of her Specialty," Tessa felt it was time to be firm, Colleen's earlier words about humanity at the forefront of her mind.

Borda nodded in approval and the others, after a moment of examining the young Captain's face, followed suit.

Another silence descended.

Finally Admiral Borda spoke.

"The girl speaks Japanese, yes?"

Tessa nodded. It was noted in her dossier that she had spent almost a year working in a Japanese lab outside of Fukui prefecture prior to her capture.

"Send Sergeant Weber with her to Tokyo. She can attend Jindai High School with Angel and have both Sergeant Sagara and Wraith for insurance. This would provide for both the security concerns and the environmental concerns."

General Amitt, who was forever at odds with the Operations Department, was, however, skeptical.

"Are you sure that even that is enough considering the damage she has managed to do _contained_?"

"I can send Second Lieutenant Mao along in the meantime to assure you, General," said Tessa, "But I believe this plan is preferable when compared to the consequences of keeping her contained."

Amitt admitted that she had a valid point.

The hawk-faced Head of the Finance Department, however, sighed deeply.

"That school is a financial black hole," he said wearily. "Every time my subordinates contact that principal she greets him with that _smile_ and really, with all of the damage Sergeant Sagara caus-"

Borda cut him off.

"Calm down, Carlos. We are in agreement about this, then. However, I am interested to know whether the original case regarding her kidnapping was solved."

He looked towards General Amitt. He opened up a thick file before him.

"It was determined that Jack Carver was the original leak. After his death during Ms. Riley's kidnapping the informational leaks ceased. At that time we were unaware of Amalgam's presence, but we merely believed some rival organization had captured her for her Whispered talents."

"Was the investigation of the U.S. government personnel involved in the case ever completed?"

"Mithril finished it on covert terms, not wanting to strain future relationships, as the military had a vested interest in the girl's talents and, indeed, hired us to maintain her safety while keeping watch over her through the Geotron front company."

General Amitt finished his report.

"Now gentleman," interjected Sir Malory, "We are in agreement to send Ms. Riley to Jindai under the supervision of Sergeant Weber and Second Lieutenant Mao. Hopefully she can then be useful to Mithril."

The men nodded their assent and said their good-byes.

The grainy holographs faded out one by one leaving Tessa alone in the dark meeting room.

She slumped down into her chair. Mardukas put his hand upon her shoulder in support.

This had been a very long day.

------------------------------

Colleen sat at as far of a distance as was possible away from her…hmmm, she wasn't sure what to call him…_guardian?_

Babysitter?

Jail keeper?

What did it matter anyways what she called him. At least she was going somewhere.

She was going somewhere that _she_ had almost mandated she go for the first time in three years.

Certainly, she hadn't picked the destination.

She hadn't even chosen to share the small jet with the perverted man next to her, nor the vulgar women sitting near the cockpit snoring loudly with a slightly red face, nor the boy Gauron called Kashim who seemed, at least to Colleen's own eyes, to be strangely distant from his companion.

But she had mandated that she go somewhere. Anywhere.

She had asked to be freed and they had granted it. She had the _power_ to do that for the first time in three years.

And that girl…

There was a different feeling to her, a wave of familiarity, as if she had known her in some past life, as if she could read things in her own mind that were only known to her.

It made her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

Colleen frowned to the swiftly passing clouds outside of her window.

She brushed the thought away. That didn't matter to her at the moment.

Outside of her window was the moon. A moon that was not some product of her imagination, or fabricated out of a hazy memory.

The real moon.

It was barely a sliver, like the smile of Wonderland's Chesire Cat.

The real moon was above her and she was going somewhere.

Tessa slowly walked back to the bridge, Mardukas following close behind.

"Captain, do you believe that it was a wise decision to allow Sergeant Sagara and Sergeant Weber to take charge of such an unstable person?"

On any other day she might have jumped up and defended both of her subordinates, however she knew Mardukas' reputation for stubbornness and was not ready for such a battle.

"If there is anything that can be done for her, Ms. Chidori and Sergeant Sagara will find a way to do it. Sometimes I think those two of capable of doing anything when they are together."

Mardukas did not immediately respond noticing the strange tone of voice she used to utter the last few words. Quietly, he put a hand on her shoulder and stated in a voice lacking his usual edge, "Aye, Ma'am."

------------------------------

Kaname sat there, uncomfortably shifting from one side of her seat to the other, trying to sleep but unable to.

Everything seemed wrong.

When Sousuke had returned from the interview, or whatever day he had been sent to save, he seemed to avoid her.

Could he still be angry about her coming?

No, it couldn't be.

Maybe it was something the girl…Colleen was her name?...had said.

She shot the other girl a look. At that moment Colleen was also looking in her direction, and noticing her sharp look (and perhaps the less than friendly look on Kaname's own face) the other girl resumed looking out the window.

Sousuke did not seem to notice much of anything. True, he remained sitting next to Kaname, but he merely stared at the floor, perhaps grunting in response to her questions.

Eventually Kaname had merely stopped asking questions altogether.

_To think_ _that moody military otaku spent the last two nights in my house and now won't say a full sentence to me_, she thought with more than a small bit of indignation.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him sigh deeply.

Something was definitely wrong. When he had problems he told her. Even back on the _Tuatha Da Daanan_ they have sat together in a room for almost an hour in an awkward silence interrupted by her failed attempts to start a conversation.

Even when she had asked him how he was feeling he merely responded, "My physical state is satisfactory" and did not pursue the subject any further.

Something was definitely bothering him.

It was as if the last few months had been erased and he was still looking at her from behind a newspaper with a hole in the front cover, stating "It is merely a coincidence" when she asked what he was doing.

…or the empty person who had stood on the streets of Hong Kong merely looking for another battle without a future beyond it.

In the person she sat next to she could find no trace of the person who had given her lapis lazuli for her birthday or carried her through the air with a military issue balloon.

But what had happened to hollow him out again?

She hated Sousuke acting like this; she might even have smacked him with her halisen if she thought it would snap him out of it.

It was like a piece of her had gone hollow as well.

------------------------------

A/N: Hopefully this chapter has begun to answer several of your questions (and hopefully that makes up for the long time it has taken me to post it…). There are also a number of allusions to the novels. A lot of elements have really started to come together in this chapter, but I promise there will be more humor in the next few chapters! However, the next one won't be up for 3-4 weeks…after finals week…

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading! Also, to my readers who either have added this fic to favorites or have an alert on it (you know who you are), could you tell me what you like / hate about it? I'm actually very curious…and to let you know I respond to all of my reviews as well, so feel free to ask questions and such if you wish.

Thank you all again for reading!


	6. Lost In Translation

Thank you Hououza, full-metal-sousuke, (anonymous) d, and mangadude for your feedback! As always, I appreciate it!

And, not to pun the title, but the translations are right next to the text, so don't get freaked out when it lapses into another language. (You'll see U)

Chapter 6 – Lost in Translation

Shutting the door behind him, the portly, greasy haired man moped his sweating brow with his handkerchief.

Good God did he hate that woman and her smile! How on _earth_ was he supposed to report this new extortion back to his superiors?

These thoughts sent new waves of sweat cascading down his brow and elicited another torrent of wiping.

Walking out, he turned and sullenly waved a fist at the front of Jindai High School and the voracious financial black hole it had come to represent for Mithril's finance department.

The principal, smiling that demonic smile from the very first second he had stepped one foot through her door, had demanded _quite_ a sum to have this Colleen Reese transferred to their school, even though he had given her the viable excuse that the girl had diplomats as parents.

That's what the school thought Mithril was anyways…an obscure part of the government's secret service agency...

She had responded that it would be quite a burden to transfer her into the particular class he required because that specific class was already a tad bit oversized.

As for giving Second Lieutenant Mao and Sergeant Kurz positions within the school…

The man began moping his brow furiously once again at the thought of _that_ conversation.

The smiling woman had casually remarked upon his inquiry that they had introduced a new section within the contracts of Jindai's teachers.

_"S-class" injuries._

"S," of course, standing for "Sagara" or "Sousuke Sagara" or "son of a bitch!" as he was commonly referred to in the finance department.

She then, with that horrific smile, noted that the position of gym teacher was open because of just such an injury. Then the damned principal had gone on to lament the incredible cost of hospitalization for both smoke inhalation related injuries and burns incurred from being in the line of fire of exploding lockers.

As for the second position…she said that the school nurse had always wanted to visit Hollywood and stroll down the walk of fame.

Oh good Lord Almighty…how was he going to tell _this_ to his superiors?

This woman was quite a conniving…he didn't even have an expletive strong enough to convey his strong hate of that woman.

…and on top of that she had presented him with an itemized list of the month's damages that had resulted from Sergeant Sagara's recent exploits and casually mentioned they had hired a new secretary merely to keep track of the financial costs of his future ordeals.

She finished by frowning delicately and saying, "My, my, what a financial burden upon the school that boy is! Oh, but I understand his rough background…the poor dear."

"_POOR DEAR!"_ The finance deputy crumpled up the damp handkerchief and did a wild dance that resulted in the piece of cloth tearing into a few dozen pieces.

The smiling principal and that, that, that….again, expletives failed him…Sousuke Sagara!

The janitor watched the man dance insanely as he angrily mumbled incoherently to himself, shaking his head.

Where _was_ the school getting their money from these days?

------------------------------

The class, noisy and rowdy as usual, quieted down a bit as a new face stepped within their midst. She did not smile and Kyouko whispered to Kaname that she looked almost….sad.

Kagurazaka-sensei walked in, and the new girl smiled directly on cue at her.

Kyouko surreptitiously snapped a picture of it.

Kaname wondered if that were the only smile anyone would ever see, let alone record from the girl.

The entire plane ride home, not only had Sousuke been acting strange, but the girl had merely sat there looking out her window into the darkness.

She felt a strange sensation whenever she looked at that girl…and she thought, frowning intensely, she wasn't all too sure she didn't have anything to do with Sousuke's current behavior towards her.

Had she told him something about the Whispered? Or made him think something that had merely brought him back to his mission mentality?

The paper in her hand crinkled at that thought, receiving the punishment in place of the target of her thoughts.

Just then, Ono-D looked at her with a mischievous glare in his eye and proceeded to elbow her.

"So…both you and Sagara were absent yesterday, Kaname."

The class volume decreased and took notice of the conversation.

Kaname merely looked up at him and, recognizing the look for what it was, Ono-D quickly backed off a few feet, arm raised in front of him for defensive purposes.

If looks could kill, at that moment, Onodera would not only have been dead…he would have been a heap of ash upon the floor.

Seeing this, the class's volume immediately rose again as if to mask the interest they had displayed not even a minute before.

No one wished to incite their class representative at times like these. It was suicide.

…they would simply have Kyouko fish information out of her later.

Angry once again, Kaname focused her gaze at the front of the room, wondering how bad, exactly, the day had the potential to become.

Meanwhile the class began. The class stood and bowed to Kagurazaka-sensei.

It was time for introductions.

Colleen neatly wrote up her new alias "Colleen Reese" in bold, but neat handwriting upon the chalkboard and bowed stiffly and formally to the class.

Kagurazaka-sensei merely said, "This is our new exchange student from the United States. She will be with us while her parents do their political work here in Japan. Miss Reese also speaks very good Japanese and English so you can practice with her, if you like."

She held up their recent stacks of exams, the first pages were marked and stained with red ink.

"Some of you need it!"

A tiny wave of fear rippled through the class, manifesting itself in a low frequency murmur.

Many hands popped up.

"What music groups do you like?"

Colleen thought about it for a moment, "I like Mozart, Fauré, Poulenc, Linda Ronstadt, and Shimokawa Mikuni."

The class murmured as they discussed her odd tastes.

"Where did you learn Japanese?"

"I was in Japan for a very long duration for my parents' work a few years ago."

Another hand shot up.

"What is your favorite movie?"

Her face went blank. Kaname wondered when the last time she had time to see a movie was.

She finally answered, "Amadeus" but did not seem very adamant about her own choice.

A hand in the back of the room went up.

"Can you speak English for us?"

The student looked at Kagurazaka-sensei for approval, hoping that his paper did not look like the one she had displayed.

Colleen gave, what seemed to Kaname at least, a rather disconcerting smile.

She nodded and then began speaking very fast in English. Her words made Kaname stare at her all the more in disbelief.

"The name I have given you is actually a pseudonym. I am also a bit older than most of you, but I have been put here to infiltrate your school. There is not a great deal you will be able to teach me, actually. At the age of five I could solve physics and math problems more difficult than even professors could, so my mother and father moved me from my home country of Ireland to the United States."

The class seemed to be absolutely enthralled in the monologue.

…but they did not seem to react the way they should to the content of her impromptu introduction.

Kaname, being able to understand the fast paced speech due to her years with her father in New York, could feel her mouth begin to drop.

She looked around and wondered at the fact that most of her classmates weren't doing the same.

Kagurazaka-sensei looked at the girl with a look between confusion and disbelief.

"At the age of nine," she continued, "I began to attend and be a head researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology up until a paramilitary organization kidnapped me for a duration of three years. Since them I have worked in laboratories in Costa Rica, the Sudan, and here in Japan. Now I am in the control of another such organization."

At that moment, completely distorting her last sentence, Sousuke had chosen that moment to physically tackle her.

Kaname also noticed that he had prepared a contingency plan, as he had a white phosphorus grenade in his hand. But she her mind processed this new realization as if it were more like an afterthought, as she'd raced towards the front of the room, halisen outstretched in front of her.

With a mighty yank she managed to pull him off of Colleen and with a swing of her halisen that would be described in Jindai mythology for years to come, she had sent him sailing back to his desk in the back of the room.

_That_ ought to be more than enough distraction from the girl's bewildering, though most likely factually accurate, speech.

Kagaruzaka-sensei, who had seemed paralyzed when she listened to her new student's words, sprang into action.

"Sagara! I don't know what you're doing acting that way in front of an exchange student! And Chidori! Really, you should show the exchange student better behavior as the class representative," she fanned herself briefly, as if the whole exchange made her liable to faint, and said rather dazedly, "you are the only one who can make Sagara behave, however…"

Sousuke stood up, knocking the desk over one again in the process.

He was now sweating bullets.

"I'm sorry Ma'am!" His posture was stiff, complimenting his military manner, "There was a laser sight aimed directly at her."

Kagurazaka-sensei tapped her foot impatiently.

"Sagara, that excuse won't do this time either!" She turned suddenly to Colleen who looked almost amused by the exchange, "Please do not mind Sagara…he tends to be a bit…over-excited in his efforts at school."

She gave another disconcerting smile, giving an awkward sounding laugh, "I can certainly see that."

"You may continue if you wish."

She nodded and began again, "In lieu of that display of force I would like to say that I am glad to spend this time with all of you. I will enjoy the time I spend as your classmate."

She bowed.

The class grew quiet, processing the foreign language and putting together the meaning of the speech.

The silence seemed to stretch for an eternity. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sousuke sweating profusely and most likely planning some otaku action.

A moment later the class began cheering and calling "wonderful English!" and variations on "Thank you very much!" One confused student even called out, "you're welcome!"

Those that had gotten some of the message seemed to think that she might be making a joke at Jindai's famous brushes with hijackers, and looked at her with a sense of admiration.

Kaname looked about her…either Sousuke's diversion had been incredibly effective (which she doubted) or she had simply spoken at a pace and used vocabulary that the rest of her classmates could not comprehend at their current skill level.

She looked back at Sousuke again.

He was clutching his gun and looking at her with one of the most suspicious looks that she had ever witnessed…and _that_ was certainly suspicious.

She shot him a look that clearly stated, "put that gun down or you'll regret it!"

…a look which he promptly ignored…

…sighing Kaname then turned her attention back to the front of the room. Kagurazaka-sensei was looking at her a bit uneasily, since, as the English instructor, she had understood the content of the speech as well.

Colleen merely remained fielding questions about her interests and life in the United States.

One student raised her hand.

"What sort of novels do you like?"

"I really like Science Fiction and Fantasy…in fact, it is a hobby of mine to write my own stories of this genre."

She smiled at Kagurazaka-sensei, who had visibly relaxed in light of that answer. She had seen two too many kidnapping attempts for jokes such as that.

There were a few more questions and finally, Kaname introduced herself, with a rather false smile, as the class representative and told her that she could answer any questions that Colleen may have.

They remained staring at each other for a moment longer than might have been proper, however their exchange was still unnoticeable to the rest of the students.

That same odd sensation rippled through her. Kaname definitely did not know what to do with her…or why she had called Sousuke specifically up for that matter. She looked down at her desk, as an excuse to break her gaze off from the other girl.

Perhaps the day indeed had the capacity to reach a new low.

------------------------------

Still in a foul mood half way through Classical Literature, Kaname could merely stare in mock interest toward the front of the room. Instead, as her hand took notes that her mind never so much as processed, she concentrated on blowing an errant strand of hair out of her face.

One puff of air.

It landed in her face again.

Two puffs.

It fluttered briefly before dropping squarely into her face once again. Attempting to brush it to the side of her face, she discreetly glanced at Sousuke.

While he was seemingly at his normal level of alertness, Sousuke looked a good deal more distant to Kaname's knowledgeable eyes.

She glanced back at him briefly, this time in a manner that was sure to catch his attention. Even since he had tackled Colleen that morning he had been, with dogged seriousness, bent over and taking notes. Usually he would have looked up to catch her glance, but even despite her best efforts, he seemed to be stubbornly ignoring her.

She wished it were appropriate to smack him upside the head at that moment.

Instead, she merely sighed.

She still didn't know why this old Sousuke had returned. Half of the time she had expected him to say, "It's merely a coincidence" and look at her from a hole in an old newspaper.

And somehow she felt guilty.

It was ridiculous.

She blew furiously at the bothersome strand of hair…perhaps even a little _too_ furiously.

Kyouko looked over, concern in her eyes.

Kaname merely waved it off and returned to her notes.

She simply needed to put him out of her mind until she could physically do something about him.

_Whatever_ that ended up being.

And she also wanted to avoid thinking about the new exchange student…that would inevitably raise more questions in her head about Sousuke and what had transpired during their conversation.

She then noticed that, for the fifth time that day, a girl complained of a headache and had stumbled through the door to the nurse's office.

They _definitely_ didn't seem to have headaches moments before when they were giggling and passing notes among their friends.

Something was definitely going on.

------------------------------

Sousuke thought over his substandard performance since he had returned from the _Tuatha da Daanan_.

He chastised himself for being so intent on what he had learned had happened during the period that he was reassigned that he forgot the basic operating procedures of his mission.

Colleen Riley definitely represented a suspicious incursion on the parameters of his mission.

She had given away quite a bit of classified information to anyone that might have understood her. It had taken him a long while to decide whether to use direct force to intervene or use a white phosphorus grenade.

Either choice had its risk factors, mainly in the person of Kaname.

After class had been over, rather than pay for that and his…avoidance…of her, he had stealthily exited and taken up his current tactically advantageous position.

However, he had a mission to accomplish currently, and did not have time to become entangled in his emotions.

When another potential terrorist had put a threatening note in his locker long ago he had taken just such a measure.

Kaname had merely claimed that she had wanted to make a declaration of her feelings for him. He did not, however, fully understand what she had meant by that. Nonetheless, he had put her under surveillance after the incident.

He had dawned a camouflage consisting of various native varieties of foliage and remained, a silenced sniper rifle aimed at Colleen. So far, she merely sat reading an intimidating looking book.

The classmates that approached her were treated with formal, if somewhat cold courtesy and quickly left.

He had not yet seen Kaname.

Sousuke had reason to expect that she had already noticed the plot that Colleen was carrying out within their classroom.

Throughout the day, a vast quantity of female classmates had complained of various ailments that had them sent to the school nurse.

It was reasonable to think that this was a result from some mild biological agent or poison gas that the new exchange student had introduced into the classroom and aimed directly at the female members of the class.

Indeed, this scenario had made him question Mithril's decision to send her here. As soon as he had sufficient proof of her actions he would report immediately to Kalinin.

At that moment, something occurred that went contrary to all of his battle plans.

Someone had ducked into the bush and was now poking through the foliage he was using to camouflage himself.

And who that someone was even more disruptive to his tactical assessment of the situation.

_Kaname_.

He was lucky that the abrupt manner in which he had encountered her did not allow for him to transition into any thoughts that would hamper his skills as a Specialist.

Sousuke began to sweat profusely, hoping that his camouflage makeup was indeed guaranteed to last, as the packaging proclaimed.

Crouching down, she soon put her hand right on the middle of his back…and felt not dirt, but a burlap sack with a number of branches attached to it.

He could feel her hand stiffen for a moment, as if in disbelief, and then withdraw.

Suddenly the grip returned with a vengeance.

"S-S-S-Sousuke!"

He was fortunate that she had also come to de reconnaissance. Because of this fact that collateral damage that she was capable of causing for his prior actions would be considerably minimized due to noise constraints.

"What are you doing here?"

He wanted to pose the same question to her as well, but wisely restrained himself.

"As you have no doubt noticed, a number of our female classmates have reported various physical ailments and have reported to the school nurse's office. I have determined that the cause may somehow be linked with terrorist activities caused by our new classmate. I have therefore put her under a program of observation in order to respond to her movements with a greater degree of force and accuracy."

Kaname did not look in the least bit impressed at his assessment.

"She's not going to do something like that you war brained otaku. Honestly, why do you always have to pick out the least likely scenario? Didn't you think to check the nurse's office first?"

Sousuke _had _considered this suggestion. However, should the target determine that her classmates already had full knowledge of her plot, she would most certainly flee the vicinity. Thus, this had appeared to him to be the obvious and most tactically sound move to be made.

There was no telling how much classified information she had already gleaned from Jindai High School.

He told Kaname as much.

She punched him in the gut. She was quit effective in choosing a spot that was conducive to not only neutralizing her enemy, but also knocking the wind out of him to minimize the noise generated by combat.

He belatedly wished that, in this case, the enemy had not been him.

"Chidori, " he said suddenly, "If you are not here because you suspected her of employing biological agents on our fellow classmates, why are you here?"

She was raising her fist again, and suddenly stopped and a look of anxiety flared briefly in her face, color rising to her cheeks. One of these days he would remember to research her circulation deficiency.

Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and pulled him rather forcibly upright, whispering fiercely, "I wanted to make sure that she was getting along with everyone! I am the class representative after all! Ha ha ha ha!"

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the enemy look up in confusion at the class representative dragging him, in full camouflage gear, off towards the building that housed the nurse's office.

This mission had been an unavoidable failure.

He made a mental note to school Kaname in tactics and stealth.

------------------------------

She saw the two of them leave, and then sidled to a pay phone at the edge of campus, usually used by students who had late club meetings or had unexpectedly received clean-up duty.

Taking out a phone card, she dialed a number that she had kept in her memory for three long years.

The phone rang once; a man's voice came on the other line.

"Speak."

She had already formulated a plan – too many people spoke English here for it to be a guarantee against eavesdroppers. Colleen took a deep breath before answering the commanding voice.

"Quisiera hablar con Padre. Soy la hija de él, Santa Catarina." (I wish to speak with Father. I am his daughter, Saint Catherine.)

Santa Catarina.

She hadn't used her government code name in an eternity.

"You've escaped the wheel?"

It was a familiar response, referring to Saint Catherine's persecution at the hands of male adversaries. They had strapped her to the infamous Catherine Wheel in an attempt to break her for having a greater knowledge then them.

It had broken miraculously at her touch.

"Sí, la rueda está rota. En este momento estoy sana y salva, pero hay gente aquí…no sé que querian hacer conmigo." (Yes, the wheel is broken. At this moment I'm safe and sound, but there are people here…I don't know what they want to do with me.)

"Who?"

"La gente de la primera orginización…pero, sabes, no puedo confiar en ellos nada más." (The people from the first organization…but, you know, I can't trust them anymore.)

The other speaker grunted.

"Any guards?"

"Uno…casi dos…" (One…Almost two.)

"_Almost_ two?" He said, reacting to her word choice, "How can you have almost two guards?"

"Hay un grosero, pero é les un francotirador, quizás él no el lo mejor en combiante fisica." (There's a pervert, but he's a sniper, perhaps he's not the best in physical combat.)

He chuckled at her description. Only she would add "pervert" as a salient feature of her description. He continued, "And the other…he's the almost?"

"Sí, él es el "casi" porque es tan joven pero más peligroso. No tiene emociones ni escrupulos con respecto a mí." (Yes, he's the "almost" because he's young but more dangerous. He doesn't have emotions or scruples with respect to me.)

She could hear him fown over the line. She continued on nonetheless.

"Afortunadamente siempre está con su otro parte del trabajo." (Fortunately he's always with the other part of his work.)

_Other part of his work?_ He didn't question her. That was not important at this time.

"What do you want to do now?"

There was a brief silence.

"Yo quiero devolver a mi propio país. Pero…" there was a hesitancy, "No podemos derrotar ningunas de las organizaciones. Las ambas tienen tecnología tan anvances y no puedo ayudar con este. Solamente quiero devolver, estoy cansada del todo." (I want to return to my own country. But…we can't defeat either of the organizations. Both have advanced technology and I can't help you with that. I only want to return, I'm tired of it all.)

The last line she said quietly. _Solamente quiero devolver_. _I only want to return._ She was perfectly aware she wasn't what they wanted nor could she help them in any sort of useful way that would impact the future greatly.

Colleen was merely banking on an old promise, having full knowledge of what such promises were actually worth.

"I told him I would…can you escape, at least back to the convent?"

"Convent." Code for the American Embassy. Mithril couldn't operate there without risk of souring political relations with one of their key allies.

"Voy a tartar. Yo sé que soy más intelligente que los agentes, quizás pueda hacerlo." (I'm going to try. I know that I'm smarter then the agents, maybe I'll be able to do it.)

"How much time will you need?"

"Una semana o a poca más. Tengo un pasaporte de la organización o puede usar los canales del gobierno. Sé cuando entrar al convento, nadie puede tocarme o usarme. Nadie." (A week or a little more. I have a passport from the organization or I can use the government's channels. I know when I enter the convent, no one can touch me or use me. No one.)

Colleen spoke this as if it were an absolute truth. Something that she could not help clinging to.

"Santa Catarina," he said, "San Cristobal will protect you."

"Sí, con la voluntad de Dios." (Yes, with God's will.)

She hung up, dialed three other numbers internationally to throw off anyone who might be following her. Checking carefully, she looked to make sure Sagara had indeed left.

Hoping that he had indeed left as she had seen, she walked back to the classroom.

She had work to do.

------------------------------

Kaname wasn't at all prepared for the sight that greeted her when she had succeeded in sprinting and dragging Sousuke the entire distance to the nurse's office.

Indeed, what she found there had reduced her to a state that was seldom seen…utter speechlessness.

However, this did not last very long.

"KURZ!"

The man paused and looked up at her. Around him were seated three or four girls offering him bento boxes.

Up until Kaname's explosion, he had been speaking English and repeating the phrase "Pretty girls!" to which the girls responded with a chorus of ridiculous sighs and vapid giggles.

"Oh, Kana-chan!" He responded, she could almost envision hearts crop up around him. His fan club girl's looked angry that he had referred to her in such a familiar way.

They were staring at her with murder in their eyes.

"Have you come to Nurse Weber's office for something?" He said this in a saccharine sweet voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

_Exactly whose idea had this been?_

"Weber-san," said Kaname, adopting a deceptively sweet tone, "Exactly where did Nurse Kadowaki go?"

She smiled very prettily.

Kurz's fan club looked positively enraged.

"Well," he said winking (the other girls practically turned demonic with rage when they say _that_), "Nurse Kadowaki took a brief vacation to Hollywood, and because I had just finished my medical research at the university, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to sample my future clientele."

He gave a brilliant smile and an overly animated wink that made the girls watching him wilt.

Kaname thought that a vein would pop out of her head with that answer. Her arms were both taunt at her sides and the knuckles on her fingers had been drained of all color due to the tightness of the fists she had balled her hands into.

"Chidori, " said Sousuke suddenly, standing near the door, "Would you like me to implement extreme measures?"

He held out a grenade.

With a cry of rage she began pummeling him on the head, "Can't you think of anything _else_, you war-for-brains-otaku!"

"Actually, I have another contingency plan that involves the use of back-up personnel."

His voice bounced unevenly with the blows that he received.

She stopped momentarily, exhausted from the combination of sprinting to the office in the first place and the physical exertion of knocking some sense into the young Specialist.

He took out his phone.

"It's Sagara. Yes, we have a Beta-Romeo-Alpha, priority one, and are requesting back-up."

The other voice presumably acknowledged and he clicked the phone shut.

"Back-up will arrive shortly."

Kaname did not know how much more of this she could handle today.

But she certainly was about to find out.

Outside of the door there was a faint rumbling sound in the distance, followed by the door bursting open and clanging on the wall, it crashed and rebounded, finally stopping when an arm the size of a tree trunk seized it.

At that moment, Mao, who was dressed in workout sweats and a tank top, marched through the door, the rugby team sliding into a noisy heap behind her.

She barked some choice words at them and they, more obedient than she had ever seen them since their conversion into a killing, fighting, winning team at the hands of Sousuke, almost docilely and respectfully nodded to Mao and returned to their class.

She did not care to imagine what had happened to make them that way.

At least there was _some _improvement to the day. Even if it was only that the rugby team had begun to partially behave themselves.

But this minor miracle was accompanied by the fact that apparently Mao had taken over the position of substitute gym teacher until their normal instructor recovered completely from his injuries and psychological damages…and Kurz was apparently now taking the place of a mysteriously vacationing nurse…these very much did not shift the balance of the Kaname's day's downward trend.

Mao glared at the assembled girls, appraising them one by one as if they were recruits in boot camp.

Suddenly, a mischievous smile lit her face up.

"Teacher meeting! You," she pointed directly at the girls, "need to clear out so I can speak with Weber about some pressing matters."

The girls looked belligerent for one last time before sullenly gathering up their bento boxes and walking to the door, muttering among themselves and casting dark looks in the direction of both Mao and Kaname.

Melissa then turned to Sousuke and gave him a sharp salute and a wink.

"I'm glad we planned for that before hand, Sousuke."

Kurz, during this whole exchange, looked alternatively outraged and a bit afraid of what might occur.

"Sousuke, you're dismissed, I can handle disciplinary measures from here. Thank you for your work as well, Kaname."

She gave her a mock salute as well.

They both turned to leave, the sounds of the disciplinary measures echoing behind them.

Directly outside of the classroom, however, Kaname's mood, which had begun to lift due to the return of Sousuke's "normal" behavior (as normal as sitting behind sniper rifles in bushes could possible be, at least) and Kurz's impending punishment, immediately crashed down again.

Colleen was leaning on the wall directly outside of the office.

"Chidori-san," she said, not with an unfriendly tone, but definitely not a tone that invited open conversation, "If Weber has further breaches of conduct, please notify me. Mr. Kalinin told me to contact him directly if needed."

She actually gave a small, rare smile.

Kaname sputtered her thanks. It was the first time she had actually spoken face to face with the girl, and somehow it failed to be the bristling encounter that she had expected.

------------------------------

They walked home at the normal time, at a normal distance, at a normal pace….and in an entirely abnormal silence.

Kaname had begun by chatting idly and half way stopped when she noticed that Sousuke only responded to her in a series of grunts and absent minded, monosyllabic, slow responses.

The lack of conversation gave Sousuke the opportunity to explore his thoughts.

During Sousuke's time in Tokyo he had come to appreciate walking home. Unlike his travels in Afghanistan, he did not need to worry about possibly encountering land mines, hostile troops, or natural predators.

He simply could walk (perhaps apprehending an occasional security risk), with Kaname at his side and feel as if, for the first time in his life, there was a home somewhere at the end of the road.

But today this sense of security was more or less absent.

And, as much as it disturbed his well-trained sensibilities as a Specialist, he couldn't help but feel as if his trust in Kaname had been shaken even a bit by what he had learned about her situation with Leonard.

But, he found he couldn't simply ask her what the parameters of that situation entailed.

Had she been any other person, he would have directly and effectively confronted her, possibly in the style of an interrogation.

He was used to such standard operating procedures.

But, as with most situations he encountered that Kaname was somehow involved in, the standard operating parameters did not apply.

Kaname was not any other person. She was the only person he trusted, the only person he didn't need to guard himself against, the only person that he would allow to come near him with an unsheathed lethal object (although this only applied in select situations).

And she had said she trusted him.

He looked down at his feet as he walked.

She trusted him, but she hadn't told him about Leonard…about kissing Leonard Testarossa.

What was that sort of trust?

He didn't understand completely.

By this time, they had arrived in silence at their respective apartment buildings. Kaname gave him a somber good-bye, looking at him with a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

Climbing the steps to his own apartment, he played over the arguments in his head, still uncertain as to what to do.

With each floor he arrived at, anger flared to life within him.

Except for that one time on the _Tuatha da Daanan_ after he had returned from the mission in his homeland, he could not recall being angry with her.

For a brief moment he lost control. He had only done that the night he had received his reassignment orders from Tessa. That had taken him away from Kaname.

And a small part of him feared the same events were playing out again in a much different manner that he could not simply repair by negotiating a new contract.

He grabbed the first thing he could off of his desk, Mao's glass ashtray, and threw it on the floor.

It shattered into a small flurry of ash and glass shards.

He looked up to see Colleen looking at him from the threshold of the door.

Her face was fixed in a passive expression, as if observing a completely ordinary event.

After a moment she nodded.

"Sometimes it's good to do that." She retrieved a broom, "I'll tell them I was clumsy and knocked it over when they get back."

Sousuke simply remained looking at her as she swept up the mess.

Sweeping up the remainder of the ashes she said softly, "I don't exactly know why you're acting like this and I know you don't trust me, but nothing gets better unless you make it so for yourself."

He watched her, his anger slowly abating. She threw away the remnants of the ashtray.

Sousuke couldn't deny the truth in her words.

------------------------------

**A/N:** Thank you all for reading! I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but at least I did very well on all my exams and papers. My intent with the chapter was to put in some humor, because the plot is turning out to be rather dark! Also, as per the usual, there are lots of random allusions to lots of aspects of FMP! Fandom. :) Thanks once again and reading and as always, feedback is _greatly_ appreciated. Thank you all again!


End file.
